Thousands mark 31st anniversary of Srebrenica genocide

Thousands mark 31st anniversary of Srebrenica genocide

More than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were systematically executed over several days in July 1995 after Bosnian Serb forces overran the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica during the final months of the Bosnian war.

Investigators have spent decades searching for mass graves in the surrounding area. Many bodies were later exhumed and reburied in secondary graves in an attempt to conceal evidence of the crimes.

The remains of Srebrenica victims are still being recovered and identified through DNA analysis. Newly identified victims are buried each year on July 11, the date the killings began in 1995.

This year, the remains of 10 more victims were laid to rest at the Srebrenica Memorial Centre in the nearby village of Potočari.

Before the burial ceremony, relatives and thousands of other participants completed the annual Peace March to Potočari.

The march follows part of the route used by Bosniak men and boys who tried to escape through forests after Srebrenica fell. It symbolises both a path to freedom for those who survived and a path of death for those who were captured and killed.

“It is hard, really hard,” said Arnes Alić, whose father was among those killed.

“I just told my colleagues it took me a while to make this decision, because this is the first and last time that I meet him since he died when I was just one year old,” he added.

Almir Baraković, another mourner, said the commemoration was also deeply painful for him. He was only seven years old when he lost a relative in the killings.

The Bosnian war of the 1990s left more than 100,000 people dead and forced millions from their homes.

Despite rulings by two United Nations courts, political leaders in Bosnia’s Serb entity and neighbouring Serbia continue to reject the designation of the Srebrenica massacre as genocide.

Scores of Bosnian Serb political and military officials have been convicted and sentenced for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.