The mortal remains of eight victims of the genocide committed in Srebrenica in the summer of 1995 are ready for burial at the collective Janaza prayer, which will be held at the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center on July 11.
Emza Fazlić, spokesperson for the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told Fena that this is not the final number, as families of victims identified so far have until early July to decide on the burial of their loved ones. She added that, for now, she has received consent from eight families for the burial of the victims.
She noted that the Podrinje Identification Project holds the mortal remains of eight more identified victims whose families have not yet given consent for burial, as well as the remains of 38 victims identified through DNA analysis whose families have not yet come forward for official identification.
Fazlić explained that the reason for this is the incompleteness of the skeletons, which is why families do not immediately choose identification and burial. They decide to wait for the opening of new graves in the hope of burying more complete bodies of their loved ones.
Around 7,573 people are still missing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, many of whom were victims of the Srebrenica genocide.
Fazlić emphasizes that the greatest obstacle in the search for the missing is not time or inaccessible terrain, but the terrible “wall of silence.”
“Today, we know there are people who go to bed every night knowing where the mass graves are. These people are former excavator drivers, transport escorts, neighbors, or comrades of those who committed atrocities. Their silence is, in fact, an ongoing crime. Genocide continues as long as the bodies of the victims remain hidden in sinkholes and landfills, deliberately scattered so they may never be reassembled,” Fazlić stated.
She added that they are sending a message to the families that they are not alone and will not give up until the very last bone is found.
“Our teams are constantly in the field doing their work. To those who know the truth but remain silent, we send a message we have repeated many times: your sin does not end with the death of the victim, but grows with every single day of your silence. Ease your conscience, show some humanity at least in this final act, and tell us where the mortal remains of the victims are. Finding peace for the victims is not just a question of the past; it is the only foundation upon which we can build a peaceful future,” Fazlić concluded, Fena writes.
