Peace after three decades: Funeral in Bratunac tomorrow for victims from burned houses and identified Kajtaz Salkić

(Patria) - A collective funeral and burial of the remains of victims of Bosniak nationality killed during 1992 will be held on May 12th at the 'Veljaci' Memorial Complex and Martyrs' Cemetery in Bratunac.

This year, one identified victim will find final peace, as well as the remains of several victims whose identification by DNA method was not possible until today due to the condition in which the bodies were found.

The remains of the only identified victim to be buried this year belong to Kajtaz (Šećo) Salkić, born in 1955 in Hranča. Salkić was 37 years old when he disappeared in the Bratunac area in December 1992. His remains were exhumed in 2025 at the Glogova site, after 33 years of searching.

This year, the remains of victims from burned houses will also be buried, where the scale of the crime and the damage to the bodies prevented classical identification methods. By order of the Prosecutor's Office, the remains found at two different locations will be interred as unidentified persons (NN) in two graves.

The remains exhumed in October 2004 at the Voljavica site, from the burned house of Jašar Omerović, will be placed in one grave. According to operational data from the Institute for Missing Persons of BiH, at least six people were burned to death in this house. Due to the poor condition of the burned fragments, DNA identification was not possible.

The remains exhumed at the Suha site during 2002 will be placed in the second grave. They were found in the burned house of Osman Hodžić, where, according to operational data from the Institute, at least 18 people perished. Although there were 18 victims, DNA profiles, i.e., identities, were successfully isolated from the found remains for only four individuals.

The Institute for Missing Persons of BiH is still searching for 449 victims from the Bratunac area. To date, a total of 1,767 victims have been identified. Exhumations were carried out at 418 locations, 32 of which were mass graves. The remains of victims from 1992 were found in 15 mass graves, while victims killed in 1995 were found in the remaining 17.

The Institute for Missing Persons of BiH and the victims' families once again appeal to anyone with any information about the locations of graves to share it, so that the remaining families can finally find peace after more than three decades.