The remains of 175 victims of the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia have been laid to rest in their final destination of Sarajevo.
After 19 years the pain remains raw.
In an annual event, newly found or identified remains of the victims are transported through the town, so that their loved ones can finally pay their respects before being laid to rest.
Fatima Efendic, lost her son Amir in the mass killing. Having found his remains she can finally begin to grieve.
“I am happy we found him,” she said fighting back tears. “I dreamt of him last night. I was looking for him in my dream. I found him on top of a house, I held him in my lap. My wish and dream finally came true. I just took him into my lap.”
Around 8,000 Muslim men were rounded up and killed when the town was seized during the Bosnian war on July 11 1995. Just over 6,000 have been exhumed from mass graves to be buried at Potocari cemetery.
At the International Centre on Missing Persons, the search continues for the remaining bodies.
“We calculate that there are still about a thousand persons missing,” explained Kathryne Bomberger, Director-General of ICMP. “But also, in addition to that, in addition to these thousand persons, there will be thousands of additional pieces of bodies, of skeletal remains that will also be uncovered that could be re-associated to the ones in the mortuary. So, this is an extremely complex process.”
Though many families wait to recover more complete remains before burial, for those yet to find their missing sons, brothers, husbands and fathers, discovering just one bone would be enough to provide closure.
Friday 11 July 2014
http://www.euronews.com/2014/07/11/bosnia-buries-srebrenica-victims-identified-19-years-after-the-massacre/
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