‘HE KISSED ME, LEFT, AND NEVER CAME BACK’: FAMILIES PREPARE TO BURY 10 SREBRENICA GENOCIDE VICTIMS

Fri 10 July 2026:

Mediha Dozic recalled the last time she saw her father as families gathered Thursday at the Potocari Memorial Cemetery to receive the remains of 10 Srebrenica genocide victims ahead of their burial during ceremonies marking the 31st anniversary of the massacre.

“He kissed me, left, and never came back,” Dozic said as she stood beside the coffin of her father, Muhidin Osmanovic, one of the 10 victims whose remains were welcomed with prayers and tears before a burial ceremony on Friday.

Dozic, who was only 5 years old when she last saw her father before the fall of the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica, said her family waited years to bury him until additional remains were recovered.

“They found some of his remains years ago, but that was not enough. We waited until more of his bones were found. This year, several more bones were recovered, and now we can finally bury him,” she told reporters.

The coffins, draped in green funeral cloths, contain the remains of 10 Bosniak civilians killed during the genocide.

They were carried into the former battery factory opposite the cemetery, where they will remain overnight before being transferred to the cemetery for Friday’s funeral prayers and burial ceremony marking the 31st anniversary of the massacre.

Earlier, the funeral convoy departed from the central Bosnian town of Visoko, passing through the capital, Sarajevo, before arriving in Potocari.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

Families wait decades for final farewell

Another victim to be laid to rest is Muriz Barakovic, who was 22 when he was killed.

His wife, Nezira Barakovic, said she had waited more than 30 years for the burial.

“It is very difficult. I am burying my husband. I saw him for the last time on July 11. We separated that day and never saw each other again,” she said.

“It was extremely difficult to decide to bury him because only his head was found. It causes immense pain. But we decided to bury him so that I would at least know where his grave is and be able to come and recite Al-Fatiha. That is what matters most to me,” she said, referencing the first and most often repeated chapter of the Quran.

10 victims to be buried

The remains will be buried following funeral prayers at the Potocari Memorial Cemetery on July 11.

The youngest victim to be laid to rest is Senad Jusic, who was 20 when he was killed. The oldest is Ramo Dautovic, who was 56.

The 10 victims to be buried are Senad Jusic, Muriz Barakovic, Hamed Music, Ramo Alic, Muhidin Osmanovic, Huso Cerimovic, Nuko Nukic, Ahmet Guster, Asim Kunic and Ramo Dautovic.

What happened in Srebrenica?

After Bosnian Serb forces, under the command of Ratko Mladic, captured the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, thousands of Bosniak civilians who had sought refuge with Dutch UN peacekeepers were later handed over to Serb forces.

While women and children were allowed to reach Bosnian government-controlled territory, at least 8,372 Bosniak men and boys were systematically killed in forests, factories and warehouses before being buried in mass graves.

In its 2007 ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), based on evidence established by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, classified the atrocities committed in and around Srebrenica as genocide.

Since the end of the war, victims whose remains have been recovered from mass graves and identified through DNA analysis have been buried each year on July 11 at the Potocari Memorial Cemetery.

So far, 6,772 genocide victims have been buried at the memorial cemetery, while another 250 were laid to rest in local cemeteries at the request of their families. More than 1,000 victims of the Srebrenica genocide remain missing.

The identified remains of genocide victims have been recovered from 150 different locations, including 77 mass graves.

Following this year’s burials, the number of genocide victims laid to rest at the Potocari Memorial Cemetery will rise to 6,782.

-Source: AA

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22