Srebrenica Survivors Commemorate 1995 Massacre

Some 40,000 people gathered in Potocari near Srebrenica on July 11 to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, including Bosniak and Croat members of the Bosnian state presidency, and a number of international officials and diplomats.



However, the Serb member of the presidency, Nebojsa Radmanovic, and the prime minister of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, were not present at the ceremony.



Around 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed in Srebrenica in July 1995, when the enclave was overrun by Serb forces led by Bosnian army chief General Ratko Mladic.



Mladic and Bosnian Serb war time leader Radovan Karadzic – who are believed to be most responsible for this massacre – are still at large.



This week, remains of 308 victims exhumed from 55 different locations around Srebrenica have been buried in Potocari, raising the total number of victims buried at this site to 3,215.



The youngest of the victims buried this week was 15 years old, and the oldest was 84.



Hundreds of bodies are still waiting to be identified with the help of DNA analysis before they can be buried.



Merdijana Sadovic is IWPR international justice/ICTY programme manager.