14 newly identified victims of the Srebrenica massacre buried in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina said goodbye to 14 more victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre this Thursday, 11 July, on the 29th anniversary of the atrocity.

Relatives of the victims and thousands of visitors from around the world attended the funeral and burial in the village of Potocari in eastern Bosnia to pay respects to the remains of the victims in green coffins.

Every July 11, newly identified victims of Europe’s worst genocide since World War II, in which more than 8,000 people were killed, are buried at a memorial cemetery in Potocari.

The youngest victim buried this year is 17-year-old Beriz Mujic, born in 1978 in Zvornik.

His remains were found 28 years after his death and exhumed in May 2023.

He was murdered in July 1995 in the Sućeska region, near Bratunac.

Mujić was buried next to his brother Hazim, who was buried in 2013.

His father, Omer Mujić, has not yet been found.

The oldest victim buried this year is Hamid Celik, born in 1927. He was 68 when he disappeared in the town of Zepa in the summer of 1995. His remains were exhumed in May 2014 and recently identified.

This year’s funerals bring the number of burials at the cemetery to 6,765.

After prayers for the martyrs, the bodies of the 14 victims of the massacre, whose names were read out one by one, were carried to pre-prepared graves and buried by their relatives.

There were emotional moments during the funeral, where family members and attendees could not hold back their tears.

The names of the victims buried this year are:

Beriz Mujic, Hamed Salic, the brothers Hasib and Camil Efendic, Mehmed Krdzic, Sabrija Omic, Musan Siljkovic, Sakib Harbas, Ahmet Jasarevic, Nevres Salihovic, Ibrahim Salic, Midhat Besic, Hajdin Mustafic and Latif Mandzic.

See also: UN General Assembly: Denying genocide will not bring justice or peace

Srebrenica massacre

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked the eastern town of Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping forces.

Serbian forces were trying to take territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to create a state.

The United Nations Security Council had declared Srebrenica a “safe area” in the spring of 1993. However, troops led by General Ratko Mladic, later convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, invaded the UN zone.

Dutch troops failed to act when the Serbian army occupied the area and killed about 2,000 men and boys on 11 July alone.

About 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled into the surrounding mountains, but Serbian troops pursued them and killed more than 6,000.

The bodies of the victims were found at 570 locations across the country.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that genocide had been committed at Srebrenica.

On June 8, 2021, judges of the UN tribunal confirmed the second instance verdict sentencing Mladić to life imprisonment for genocide, persecution, crimes against humanity, extermination and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

*Aicha Sandoval Alaguna contributed to writing this note.

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