SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosnia should not forget the Srebrenica massacre, the High Representative of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, has said.
Inzko's comments came as the bodies of 175 recently identified victims of the atrocity were buried in a cemetery in the village of Potocari on Friday, the 19th anniversary of the massacre.
Inzko said: “We should always come here. We cannot forget about our people who were killed here. If we do, we would be killing them twice.”
The burial service brought the total number of victims buried since the massacre to 6,241.
Mass graves
The youngest victim was Senad Beganovic, who was killed at the age of 14, while the oldest victim was Hurem Begovic, who died at the age of 79.
More than 8,000 Bosnians were massacred in the forests, fields, factories, and warehouses in 1995 during the Bosnian War.
The bodies of victims have been buried in mass graves across the region, and many are still being found and identified to this day.
The Serbian foundation “Women in Black” also participated in the funeral ceremony.
'No justice'
Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic said he shared the pains of the victims’ relatives.
He said he had recently visited the concentration camp in Auschwitz, Poland, and the genocide in Srebrenica was no different than that committed there.
Bosnia-Herzegovina Federal Prime Minister Nermin Niksic said that the scars of the massacre would heal with time, and hopefully a better future will be built.
The Vice-President of the House of Representatives, Denis Becirovic, said: “Unfortunately, there is a huge difference between the ideal of justice and ideal of peace in the country we live in.”
“The ideal of peace was assured in 1995, but there has been no justice for 19 years in Srebrenica and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The biggest responsibility for this belongs to the international community.”
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