Close to 6,000 participants in the “March of Peace 2023.” arrived after a three-day hike to the Srebrenica – Potočari Memorial Center to attend the commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the genocide against Bosniaks committed in July 1995 in Srebrenica.
Three days ago, the participants set off from Nezuk, in the Sapna area, on a journey of more than 100 kilometers.
On the route from Nezuk to Potočari, the participants, as in previous years, passed the route: Nezuk – Baljkovica – Parlog – Crni Vrh – Snagovo – Liplje – Jošanica – Donja Kamenica – Bakrači – Glodi – Udrč – Cerska – Kaldrmica – Đugum – Mravinjci – Burnice – Kameničko Brdo – Ravni Buljim – Jaglići – Šušnjari – Budak – Potočari (Memorial center).
At the head of the column, as in previous years, were those who in ’95. a survivor of the genocide committed in the area of Srebrenica by crossing through the forests to free territory.
In silence, they entered Potočare, where they were greeted by the families of the murdered, neighbors and friends. Later, they will attend the presentation of tabuts from the hall of the former Battery Factory, which arrived in Potočari yesterday.
Tomorrow, the remains of 30 victims of the genocide committed in July 1995 against the inhabitants of the “UN protected zone” in Srebrenica will be buried in the cemetery of the Memorial Center in Potočari.
The “March of Peace”, which was organized this year for the 19th time as part of the commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the Bosniak genocide in the “United Nations Safe Zone” of Srebrenica, represents for the survivors of Srebrenica a kind of treatment for trauma, but also an obligation to they tell and pass on their experiences and stories to the younger generations.
The “March of Peace” lasted three days and the participants walked on a path about a hundred kilometers long from Nezuka to Potočari. On this path in the opposite direction, from Potočari to Nezuk, in July 1995, Bosniaks escaped and broke through during the occupation and seizure of the “United Nations Safe Zone” of Srebrenica by Serbian military and police formations.
The participants of the “Peace March” walked about 30 kilometers a day, and in certain places the path is extremely strenuous, inaccessible and requires solid physical fitness of the participants.
During the genocide in and around Srebrenica in July 1995, members of the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS), under the command of the then president of the RS, Radovan Karadžić, and the commander-in-chief of the VRS, Ratko Mladić, killed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys.
The crime in Srebrenica, the largest on European soil after the Second World War, was characterized as genocide before domestic and international courts.
Radovan Karadžić was sentenced before the Mechanism for International Criminal Courts (IMCC), the successor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ratko Mladić was also found guilty of genocide and sentenced to life imprisonment before the same court in The Hague.
At least 47 people were sentenced to more than 700 years in prison for crimes committed in the Srebrenica area.
