Munira Subasic, president of the Association “Movement ofMothers of the Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves”, stated that the Association gathered data on 570 women who died without finding their loved ones.
Mothers in Srebrenica, the city where the genocide of Bosniak men and boys was committed in the summer of 1995, are dying day by day, without many of them getting to bury the remains of their children, husbands, and brothers who passed away.
“According to the association’s data, 570 mothers passed away. Many left with one wish, and that was to find at least one bone. One of the mothers, who died two years ago, called me and died in my arms. She said, ‘Munira, please go on, don’t stop. I haven’t found my sons, and if I had found at least one bone, I would have wrapped it in the most beautiful silk.’ After 10 or 15 minutes she was gone, ” emphasized Subasic.
She said it gives her strength, even though she is 75 years oldnow.
“I do not lose strength, hope, and will. I go on. I continue on behalf of all mothers who were looking for the bones of loved ones, but did not find them, did not come to truth and justice. No dead man can be just a number, every man has a name and surname. Every man is a human and we have to behave like that, like a human being. As much as there is a difference between the living and the dead, there is a difference between the dead and the missing, everyone must know that,” said Subasic.
Further, she noted that “if the missing person is not found, and he does not have his grave, it’s like he never lived or existed”.
“No mother can even prove that she had a son until she has his tombstone. That is the point of everything. There is still a lot of work, but also strength in us. As long as we live we will fight for the truth which is our greatest weapon,” added Subasic.
So far, 6.652 victims of the genocide committed in July 1995 have been buried in the Memorial Center Srebrenica-Potocari, while another 237 victims of genocide have been buried in other locations, according to the wishes of the families of the victims. About 1.000 genocide victims are still missing.
The remains of another 19 newly identified victims of the Srebrenica genocide that occurred in the summer of ’95 wereburied at yesterday’s collective funeral in Potocari.
In June this year, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts (IMCC) confirmed a verdict sentencing Ratko Mladic, a former commander of the Army of Republika Srpska (RS), to life in prison for genocide in Srebrenica, persecution of Bosniaks and Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)municipalities, terrorizing civilians during the siege of Sarajevo, holding UNPROFOR members as hostages.
In March 2019, a court in The Hague sentenced Radovan Karadzic, the former president of the RS, to life in prison for genocide and other crimes committed in BiH during the 1992-1995 war.
Dozens of people have been convicted by international courts and courts in BiH, Croatia, and Serbia, and more than 700 years in prison were pronounced for genocide and other crimes in Srebrenica, Klix.ba writes.
