In silence, with prayers, flowers and tears, numerous citizens of Sarajevo saw off the coffins containing the remains of seven victims of the genocide committed in Srebrenica in July 1995, in front of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.
Earlier, on Wednesday morning, a vehicle carrying the coffins of the victims who will be buried in the cemetery of the Srebrenica Memorial Center in Potočari on July 11, the 30th anniversary of the genocide against Bosniaks, after a collective funeral, left Visoko.
On the way to Potočari, the convoy briefly stopped in Ilijaš and Vogošća, and after paying homage in front of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it continued through the center of Sarajevo, with symbolic stops at the Memorial to the Murdered Children of the Siege of Sarajevo 1992-1995 and at the Markale market, where two major massacres of civilians in the besieged city took place.
This year, the following will be buried in Potočari: Senajid (Husein) Avdić (1976), Hariz (Ramiz) Mujić (1976), Fata (Huso) Bektić (1928), Hasib (Adem) Omerović (1961), Sejdalija (Alija) Alić (1961), Rifet (Mustafa) Gabeljić (1964) and Amir (Ibrahim) Mujčić (1964).
The victims will be buried next to their loved ones, so the father will find peace next to his son, the brother will be buried next to his brother, the son will be lowered into the ground next to the remains of his father.
The youngest victims to be buried this year are young men who were 19 years old at the time of their deaths – Senajid (Husejin) Avdić and Hariz (Ramiz) Mujić. Both were killed in July 1995. The remains of Avdić were exhumed in the Suljići area in October 2010, and were found on the surface of the site. The remains of Hariz Mujić were also found on the surface of the terrain, unburied, during an exhumation in March 2022 at the Baljkovica site, near Zvornik.
The oldest victim to be buried is Fata (Huso) Bektić, who was 67 years old at the time of her death. She is also the only woman to find her final resting place this year in Potočari. Her remains were found 26 years after her death, during an exhumation in June 2021 in Potočari.
The remains of the victims who will find their final resting place this year were found in the Liplje, Baljkovica, Suljići, and Kameničko brdo graves. In most cases, these are incomplete bodies, so some of the victims’ families will bury one or two bones.
The remains of Hasib Omerović, who was 34 years old when he was killed, were exhumed in 1998.
The convoy with the remains of the genocide victims is expected to arrive in Potočari in the late afternoon, AA writes.
