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SARAJEVO, Thursday (AFP) Some of the worst-hit civilian victims of the siege of Sarajevo have defied amputation, lifelong paralysis and other effects of ethnic violence to make new lives, lives without ethnic hate.

Sanda and Svetozar Pudaric were wounded by mortar fire while going to work in the Bosnian city in 1992. Sanda had her left leg amputated at the hip.

But Sanda, a Serb, and Svetozar, from a mixed Serb-Croat marriage, reject age-old ethnic hatreds. Instead they invoke Sarajevo's "multi-ethnic spirit."

Faruk Sabanovic, a Bosnian Muslim, was shot by a sniper in 1995 at age 20 while crossing a street a few meters (yards) from a United Nations patrol. The bullet went through his backbone causing life-long paralysis.

But Sabanovic, now in a wheelchair, refuses "to hate the entire Serb nation."

Bosnian Serb forces held Sarajevo under constant artillery and sniper fire for more than three years between 1992 and 1995, cutting water and electricity supplies.

Sabanovic's tragedy was filmed by a foreign TV crew and broadcast worldwide.

"I know that Serb soldiers were ordered to shoot at civilians in Sarajevo, but they could have chosen to be less precise when pulling the trigger," Sabanovic said.

"I think the sniper aimed at my heart. It was his own decision, and I do blame him for it," he said.

Sabanovic believes those responsible should be punished. But he says he refuses to hate the entire Serb nation. "Many of my friends are Serbs. They stayed in the city during the siege and suffered alongside us," he recalled.

Sabanovic is a successful computer specialist and studies graphic design. A video clip he produced for a popular Sarajevo band was aired on the cable music channel MTV.

He also founded a self-confidence building center bringing together war-handicapped youth to train them for jobs to gain financial independence.

The center secured foreign donations for adjusting Sarajevo sidewalks to wheelchairs and providing the handicapped with access to university facilities.

Sabanovic says wartime experience can be inspirational, citing the example of Danis Tanovic, a writer-director from Sarajevo whose debut feature "No Man's Land" about the Bosnian war won the best foreign-language film Oscar.

"The energy accumulated in our people through misery can enthuse the world," he said.

Some victims, like Sanda and Svetozar Pudaric, turned to family values for consolation.

The couple made front pages worldwide after being wounded by mortar fire in September 1992. Sanda had her left leg amputated, while Svetozar suffered a severe injury to a thigh bone, which still hinders his movements.

The two were taken to two different hospitals. Soon after, Sanda realized that she was one month pregnant.

Svetozar, 42, recalls his first days in the hospital when he was convinced that his partner had been killed.

"I thought friends were lying to me about her," he said.

"When she was finally transferred to my hospital room I was the happiest man in the world. She was so beautiful, her eyes glittered and it wouldn't have mattered to me if she had lost one or both legs," Svetozar recalled.

The couple got married a few months later at a ceremony in the hospital.. "The baby I carried helped me a lot to overcome my condition," said Sanda, a 38-year old architect.

Their daughter Marija was born in May 1993, and the family was evacuated to Germany, where Sanda was fitted out with an artificial limb. She later gave birth to a baby son, Mirza.

They returned to Sarajevo in 1997. Sanda went back to her pre-war job with the cultural heritage institute, while Svetozar works as a spokesman for the multi-ethnic Social Democratic Party.

Just coping with daily life requires admirable strength from Sanda, as even a mild slope presents a major walking obstacle to her.

But she has proved to be a wizard at handicrafts. She paints, makes furniture and is especially proud of how she designed the couple's home.

Above all both she and her husband refuse to identify themselves by ethnicity, saying they firmly believe in Sarajevo's "multi-ethnic spirit."

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