18th Anniversary of the First Collective Funeral for Genocide Victims Marked at the Srebrenica Memorial Center

(Patria) - Symbolically, as every year, by laying flowers and reciting the Fatiha for all the martyrs buried in the cemetery of the Memorial Center, today marked the 18th anniversary of the first collective funeral for victims of the 1995 genocide.

Adhering to all epidemiological measures, representatives of associations of families of martyrs, surviving victims and witnesses of the genocide, by laying flowers and reciting the Fatiha, remembered their loved ones who lost their lives in the most brutal way. So far, 6,652 victims of the Srebrenica genocide have found their final rest in the cemetery of the Memorial Center, while the remains of more than 1,500 are still being sought. The identification process is still ongoing, and the surviving victims of the genocide retain the hope that the remains of all those killed in the 1995 genocide will be found and buried in the cemetery complex of the Srebrenica Memorial Center.

We recall that on this day in 2003, the first collective funeral prayer was held in Potočari for 600 identified victims of the Srebrenica genocide, whose remains were found in several mass graves. Since the first funeral, 20 more collective funeral prayers have been held.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Memorial Center, Ševket Hafizović, addressing those present at the commemoration today, reminded of the importance of finding new mass graves and pointed out the slowdown in the identification of victims of the genocide from July 1995. He also stated how important, if not crucial, the support of our country's institutions is in finding and identifying the remains of more than 1,500 genocide victims who have not yet been found, adding that this support has been either minimal or completely absent in the last few years.

In addition to the Mothers of Srebrenica, the commemoration ceremony was attended by the Federal Minister for Displaced Persons and Refugees, Mr. Edin Ramić, the Deputy Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Dževad Mahmutović, on behalf of the Initiative 'My Address Srebrenica' Mr. Hamdija Fejzić, Ćamil Duraković, and Zulfo Salihović.

The ceremony passed peacefully and in compliance with all epidemiological measures.