The remains of 19 victims of the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica will be buried in Potocari today. Families from all parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and beyond are arriving in Potocari, to send them to eternal rest today.
Hakija Begic will bury his nephew Muamer Mujic, who was killed in Potocari when he was 19.
In an interview with the Anadolu Agency (AA), he stated that many members of the close and extended family had been buried earlier, but that they were still searching for the missing members.
“When it comes to close family, from sisters, nephews, (we are looking for, author’s comment). at least another 20. I can’t even speak for the extended family,” Begic pointed out, barely holding back tears.
He said the body originated in Luka, Srebrenica municipality. He arrived in Potocari with his family from Sarajevo, and he hopes that other family members will come during the night or tomorrow, as he said yesterday.
“My sister is alive, my son-in-law died two years ago. The sister is alive, but she is ill, ” Begic said.
A family member, more precisely a son from a brother-in-law, will be sent to eternal rest today by Rahima Halilovic, who saidthrough tears that Esnaf Halilovic, who was killed at the age of 19, lost both his father and mother during the war. Only part of his remains has been found.
“He, his brother, and two sisters were alive. They lived with me and my husband. With the fall of Srebrenica, they went through the woods and never came back. We are burying him tomorrow, but we never found his older brother Almir, ” said Halilović yesterday.
Further, she added that their father was never found either, after he went to work on May 6th, 1992, and since then all his traces were gone.
Rahima had previously buried numerous members of her closeand extended family, including her husband, brother, and sisters’ sons.
Every July is an extremely difficult period for her.
”(Satisfaction, author’s comment) is when we can come to their graves, when we come to the tombstones and when I am near my husband, I feel as I can notice his presence, as I talk to him when I say something. So now I am satisfied with the fact that we will have Esnaf’s tombstone to come and stand by him. I would like to find Almir while I am alive, to know that he was also found, ” told Halilovic.
The youngest victim to be buried at the Potocari Memorial this year is Azmir Osmanovic, who was just 16 when he was executed. Fikret Kiveric, another minor who was 17 at the time of his death, will also find final peace this year, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
