Mass funeral for Srebrenica massacre victims
SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims prayed for the dead in Srebrnica on Saturday, the 14th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War II, and buried hundreds of victims recently recovered from mass graves.
From early morning, thousands of family members moved among the rows of coffins, looking for those of relatives before the 534 victims are laid to rest next to the existing 3,297 graves at the Srebrenica-Potocari memorial center.
Every few minutes, new buses of survivors and family members arrived to attend the commemoration of 8,100 Muslim men and boys who were killed in Srebrenica over several days in 1995 when Serb forces overran the town.
Every year, more victims' bodies are recovered from mass graves found in the area, identified through DNA analysis and buried. This year among the 534 victims, there are 44 teenagers. Four were 14 when they were killed.
Kadrija Muminagic arrived from Germany to bury his nephew Saidin, who was 14 when he and his father ended up at the execution field somewhere around Srebrenica. Saidin's 16 year-old brother Sulejman was killed by a shell that landed close to their home a week before Srebrenica fell. Only the mother survived the massacre. She died three years later.
"She died of sorrow," said Muminagic, who escaped the killing by hiding in the forest.
During the 1992-95 Bosnian war, the United Nations declared Srebrenica — which had been besieged by Serb forces throughout the war — a U.N.-protected safe area for civilians. A number Bosnians flocked there for protection.
But in July 1995, Serb troops led by Gen. Ratko Mladic overran the enclave. The outnumbered U.N. troops never fired a shot. They watched as Mladic's troops rounded up the population of Srebrenica and took the men away for execution.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, has ruled that the Srebrenica massacre was genocide. It has been described by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the darkest page in U.N. history.
Former Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, is on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He claims he is not guilty for what happened. Mladic, also indicted for genocide, is still in hiding, apparently in Serbia. Belgrade has faced immense international pressure to arrest him.
Bosnia's international administrator, Austrian diplomat Valentin Incko, said the victims must not be forgotten because "this way we would kill them for a second time."
In 1995, about 15,000 men tried to escape the slaughter by fleeing over the mountains toward the safe town of Tuzla. They were hunted along their 65-mile (100-kilometer) walk; those caught were killed. At the time, Serb TV filmed the hunt and the footage was later used at the court as evidence. Many times it was aired on TV throughout the region. One section shows an elderly man, Ramo Salihovic, caught by Serb soldiers and forced to call his son, Nermin - 16 years old at the time — to come out from the forest and surrender. The boy obeyed.
Both have been found in mass graves and are being buried today.
Saliha Osmanovic, 55, sat next to their coffins. She said she had seen her son Nermin last Friday at prayers in the mosque and that he told her everything will be fine. But her brother Fadil, who was standing behind her, whispered to the reporter later: "She is hallucinating for the last 14 years."
Among the dignitaries attending the ceremony was a U.S. congressional delegation, led by Rep Russ Carnahan, who laid a wreath at the Memorial Stone.
Associated Press writer Irena Knezevic from Banja Luka contributed to this report.
Recent comments
Thanks Bill for helping to stop this genocide and getting other...
Anonymous | July 11, 2009 at 12:03 p.m.
A Bosnian Muslim woman weeps among tarp covered coffins of Srebrenica victims during the funeral ceremony at the Memorial center of Potocari near Srebrenica, 120 kms northeast of Sarajevo on Saturday. Some thousands of relatives and survivors are gathering at Srebrenica to mark the 14th anniversary of Europe's worst massacre since World War II and to bury 534 victims recently recovered and identified from mass graves.
- Gallery: Holidays with the Herberts 9:28 p.m.
- Patrolman kills suspect in slayings 9:24 p.m.
- No resolution for fire station neighbors 9:18 p.m.
- Witness: Mitchell wanted attention 9:17 p.m.
- UNLV earns ranking before BYU 9:11 p.m.
- Utes prepare to go bowling 9:08 p.m.
- 'Mr. Hyphen' takes aim at stereotypes 9:07 p.m.
- Studies: Gambling addiction is illness 9:06 p.m.
- Utah business indicators rose 9:04 p.m.
- Electronics sales soar; clothing slips 9:04 p.m.
- 2 citations issued at Y.-U. game
- BYU says Hall incident resolved
- Max Hall: a fixture in rivalry lore
- 'Grandfamilies' a growing trend
- Witness: Mitchell wanted attention
- Mitchell called intelligent, controlling
- MWC '09 season in review
- Jazz win 6th in 7 games
- Jazz ready to be without Harpring
- Daughter: Mitchell fed me my pet
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
903 - Cougars beat Utes in overtime
482 - Hall reprimanded by MWC
401 - Max Hall issues apology
387 - Hall's pain reflects self-betrayal
344 - Utes won't respond to Hall
275 - BYU says Hall incident resolved
236 - 2 citations issued at Y.-U. game
158 - BYU is champion of the state
143 - Religion in politics is tiresome
128
My husband was teaching his 6th-grade class in Salt Lake last year when...
Tell me the last time ANY NBA player was injured diving on the floor for a...
Max apologized and thats really all he can do, he cant take back the words he...
come on byu get rid of football and lets have a real sport like ball room...
I am extremely tired of the "Wo is me" attitude the U fan base has adopted...
Polls mean even less in Basketball then they do in Football. When all is said...
I sure hope he can dig up the $164 to pay the fine. That will really hit him...
Bring home another well earned bowl win! You represent the best of the...
IF he wins his 3rd NC this year... either way I guess it will probably happen...
I also was one of many in the traffic and saw the horrible aftermath of the...
That seems fair to me, they beat Lousville and we only beat Weber St. It's a...


