In Potočari, five victims of genocide will be buried on July 11, appeal to families to give consent

(Patria) - To date, five families have given their consent for the burial of five identified victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, who will be buried in the Potočari cemetery on July 11, on the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica.

The Institute for Missing Persons of BiH confirmed yesterday that another victim of the genocide committed in the summer of 1995 in Srebrenica has been identified at the premises of the Podrinje Identification Project in Tuzla. This is a victim of Bosniak nationality who was killed in the Bratunac area in July 1995.

The family identified the remains of Sejdalija (Alija) Alić, born in 1948 in Jagodnja near Bratunac. He was killed in the Kamenica area in July 1995.

His remains were found 25 years after his death during an exhumation carried out at the Kamenica site in June 2020. Alić's remains were first identified by DNA method, and then this identity was officially accepted by his family members.

After identification, the family gave their consent for the burial of this victim at the collective funeral prayer, which will be held on July 11, 2025, at the Srebrenica Memorial Center, Potočari.

The Institute appeals to the families of the victims whose remains have been identified so far to give their consent for burial. However, given that these are incomplete remains, families still hope to find at least a few more bones during exhumations. Precisely because of this, some families are not yet ready to give their consent for the burial of their loved ones.

As the spokesperson for the Institute for Missing Persons of BiH, Emza Fazlić, told Patria, about 400 remains are awaiting re-exhumation, i.e., the addition of subsequently found remains to already buried victims.

"Many families have moved away, especially those who were among the first to bury family members, and we have lost contact. We ask families to call the Institute's phone numbers and leave their contact information so that we can obtain consent for re-exhumation," said Fazlić.