Keystone-SDA
Thousands of people are expected on Friday in Srebrenica to commemorate the genocide committed thirty years ago by Serbian forces. This is one of the worst massacres committed on European soil since 1945.
(Keystone-ATS) The day before commemorations, thousands of “Srebrenica peace markers”, who traveled more than 100 kilometers in memory of the victims and the massacre survivors, arrived at the commemorative center of Srebrenica-Potocari.
Srebrenica is the bloodiest episode of the Bosnian intercommunity conflict (1992-1995), which ignited this former Yugoslav Republic after the proclamation of its independence, desired by the Bosnians (Muslims) and the Croats (Catholics), but refused by the Serbs (Orthodox).
Seated for more than three years, the Enclave de Srebrenica, in the east of Bosnia, close to the border with Serbia, however proclaimed “protected area” of the United Nations, was attacked in July 1995 by the Serbian forces of Bosnia of General Ratko Mladic.
In the space of a few days, around 8,000 Bosnian men and adolescents were executed there, their bodies thrown into dozens of common pits. To date, the remains of more than 80% of victims have been found and buried.
Trying to hide the severity of the crimes, the Bosnian Serbian authorities had organized corpses travel operations, often shredded by heavy machines and transported to several so -called “secondary” common pits, according to experts.
“We are still looking for a little less than 1000 victims,” said the spokesperson for the Bosnian Institute for the missing people, Emza Fazlic.
An always lively suffering
“For thirty years, we have been carrying pain in our souls. Our children were killed innocent in the UN protected area. Europe and the world have observed, silent, the killing of our children, ”explains Munira Subasic, president of the main association of mothers of Srebrenica, including the husband Hilmo and the Nermin son, 17, were killed.
On Friday, survivors and families will bury during commemorations at the srebrenica-potocari Memorial Center seven victims, including two young men who were 19 years old at the time of the massacre, and a woman who was aged 67.
Their families waited for several years to bury them, hoping that other remains would be found.
“Unfortunately, for most of these victims, these are incomplete remains, in some cases there are only one or two bones,” said Ms. Fazlic, adding that a hundred women, 80 of whom are still wanted, have also been killed in the massacre.
Mevlida Omerovic decided to no longer wait and agreed for the burial of her husband’s remains, Hasib, killed at 33, probably in Petkovci, about sixty kilometers north of Srebrenica.
For those who remain, the memory persists
It is one of the five places of mass execution during this massacre, the only episode of the Bosnian conflict qualified as genocide by international justice. About a thousand people were transported there, locked in a school, then executed.
“His brother was found and buried ten years ago. Thirty years have passed and I have nothing more to wait, ”explains Ms. Omerovic, 55, who wishes to be able to meditate with her children at her husband’s grave. Even if in the coffin, there will only be the Hasib jaw.
By going to the graves of his two sons Sajib and Sinan, killed in the massacre when they were twenty years old, Nezira Mehmedovic feels closer to them.
“This is where I like to come and see my sons. I speak to them, I cry, I pray, I kiss them … For 30 years, “she said to AFP, sitting next to the graves of her sons.
“My heart is constantly suffering for them,” cries this 75 -year -old woman. “We say that life continues … But how?” »»
Conspiracy theories are going well
The former political and military leaders of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, were sentenced to life by international justice for war crimes and genocide.
But the severity of this crime continues to be put into perspective by many Serbian political leaders, Bosnia and Serbia.
“The Serbs did not commit genocide in Srebrenica and it did not take place,” said the president of the Serbian entity in Bosnia, Milorad Dodik in early July.
The UN General Assembly created in 2024 an international day to commemorate the genocide of Srebrenica on July 11, despite the anger of Serbia.
For families and survivors, this date will never erase.
“For me, every day is July 11, every night, every morning, when I get up and realize that they are not there,” sighs Ramiza Gurdic, whose Junuz husband and the sons Mehrudin and Mustafa were killed in the massacre.
