Commemoration, funeral prayer and burial of 30 victims: Peace after 28 years since the genocide committed in Srebrenica

At the cemetery of the Memorial Center in Potočari, the remains of 30 victims of the genocide committed in July 1995 against the inhabitants of the "UN safe zone" in Srebrenica will be buried today.

Among the 30 persons who will be buried this year at the collective funeral prayer on July 11, there are four minors. The youngest victim to be buried this year is Elvir Salčinović, a boy who was 15 years old when he was killed. He was executed in the Baljkovica area, and his remains were exhumed from the mass grave of Liplje near Zvornik in 2001.

He was identified in 2011. He will find his final peace next to his father Turabija and brother Almir, who were buried in Potočari in 2003 and 2011, respectively.

The oldest victim to be buried is Nezir Muminović, who was 65 years old at the time of his death. His remains were exhumed back in 2007 in the Kamenica area.

Numerous citizens from Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries have announced their arrival in Potočari for the marking of the 28th anniversary of the genocide and the burial of 30 victims, and a large number of domestic and international officials will also be present. The security of this large gathering is being handled by the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as part of the operation it leads, members of all police structures in our country are participating.

In the cemetery of the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center, 6,721 victims of the genocide have been buried so far, and more than 1,000 victims of the genocide are still being sought.

Members of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), under the command of then-RS President Radovan Karadžić and VRS Main Commander Ratko Mladić, killed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys during the genocide in Srebrenica and its surroundings in July 1995.

The crime in Srebrenica, the largest on European soil since World War II, was characterized as genocide before domestic and international courts.

Radovan Karadžić was finally sentenced before the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), the successor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the laws and customs of war during the war in BiH.

Ratko Mladić was also found guilty of genocide and sentenced to life imprisonment before the same court in The Hague.

For crimes in the Srebrenica area, at least 47 persons have been sentenced to more than 700 years in prison.