Thousands of people attended the collective funeral prayer yesterday in Potocari, where another seven victims of the Srebrenica genocide, committed in July 1995, found their final rest in the valley of white headstones.
On the 30th anniversary of the genocide, a large number of delegations from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the region, and the world arrived in Srebrenica to pay their last respects to the victims together with the citizens of BiH and the people of Srebrenica, and to express respect to their families.
After the commemoration held in the Battery Factory, many officials laid flowers next to the Memorial Stone, after which the religious part of the program began in the Potocari Memorial Center with the recitation of Yasin and the ilahi “Sehidi,” followed by the “Srebrenica Inferno” performed by the “Children of Srebrenica” choir.
This was followed by a khutbah by the Grand Mufti Husein Effendi Kavazovic, who also led the funeral prayer, which was attended by thousands of people, after which the burial of the remains of the seven genocide victims was carried out.
Among those buried yesterday were two young men, Senajid Avdic and Hariz Mujic, both born in 1976. They were only 19 years old when they were killed. Torn from the arms of their loved ones, their dreams, youth, and lives were cut short. Their remains were found in mass graves that had been relocated in an attempt to conceal the traces of the crime. After a painful search, they finally found peace yesterday and were buried with their names, dignity, and prayer.
Along with them, Fata Bektic (1928), the oldest victim of genocide to be buried in Potocari this year, was laid to rest, as well as Hasib Omerovic (1961), Sejdalija Alic (1961), Rifet Gabeljic (1964), and Amir Mujcic (1964).
Heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed throughout the day in Srebrenica. Sobs and painful sighs broke the silence, and when the time came for the coffins with the victims’ remains to be lowered into the graves, the pain and sorrow of their loved ones broke the hearts of all present.
This year, as in previous years, the coffins contained incomplete remains, and some families buried only a single bone of their loved ones. But as they say, that is enough for them – to have a place to visit, to recite Al-Fatiha.
According to the Missing Persons Institute (MPI) of BiH, more than 7.500 victims are still being searched for. Genocide victims have been found in 87 mass graves and nearly 1.000 collective and individual graves. In total, there are 44 primary graves, about 30 of which were exhumed by order of the Hague Tribunal. The bodies were then moved to 39 secondary locations to cover up the traces of the crime, and three surface mass graves and one pit have also been identified.
