Dozens more genocide victims to be buried on Srebrenica anniversary

 

The remains of 50 more recently identified Bosniaks will be buried alongside 6,671 other victims in a commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Srebrenica genocide was the July 1995 killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica. (AFP)

Thousands of people are expected to attend the commemorations of the 27th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The remains of 50 more recently identified victims of Europe's worst massacre since World War II will be buried alongside 6,671 others in the cemetery of the memorial centre on Monday.

The discovery of skeletal remains from the massacre have become rare in recent years, even though some 1,200 people are still missing, according to the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The identification process has been made more difficult as Bosnian Serb soldiers bulldozed and removed remains of victims’ bodies in to mass graves during the war in a bid to conceal the extent of the slaughter.

Mass funerals of those identified are held each July 11, the takeover date by the forces of Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who has been jailed for life for war crimes.

 

Srebrenica genocide

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

The Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosniaks and Croats to form a state.

The UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a “safe area” in the spring of 1993. However, troops led by general Ratko Mladic, who was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, overran the UN zone. 

Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing some 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone.

About 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more people. Bodies of victims have been found in 570 different places in the country.

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

On June 8, 2021, UN tribunal judges upheld in a second-instance trial a verdict sentencing Mladic to life in prison for the genocide, persecution, crimes against humanity, extermination, and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 Source: TRTWorld and agencies

 

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(With input from news agency language)

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