The anniversary of a massacre

BOSNIA is marking the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, the only crime in Europe since the Second World War that has been declared a genocide.

Only a small number of survivors were allowed to take part in commemoration events due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The brutal execution in July 1995 of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys is being commemorated in a series of events including the reburial of recently identified remains of nine victims in a memorial cemetery just outside the town in eastern Bosnia.

The Srebrenica massacre is the only episode of Bosnia’s 1992-95 war to be defined as genocide, including by two UN courts.

After murdering thousands of Srebrenica’s Muslims, in an attempt to hide the crime, Serbs dumped their bodies in numerous mass graves scattered throughout eastern Bosnia. Body parts are still being found in mass graves and are being identified through DNA analysis. Close to 7,000 of those killed have already been found and identified.

Newly identified victims are buried each year on July 11 – the anniversary of the day the killing began in 1995 – in the memorial cemetery outside of Srebrenica.

Dozens of world leaders, including Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Spain’s Pedro Sanchez, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and the Prince of Wales, sent video messages to be played at the ceremony.