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Bosnian victims reburied after being found in mass grave |
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Written by Islamic Times
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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
Thousands of mourners gathered Monday 12th May in eastern Bosnia to rebury the remains of 41 Bosnian Muslims slaughtered and swept into mass graves by Serb forces in the 1990s.
Among the bodies were nine children, four of whom were found alongside the bodies of their mothers.
After the bodies were exhumed from mass grave, the victims' families helped identify them by examining clothing or personal items and by giving blood for DNA analysis.
The victims were among 800 Muslims captured when Serb forces raided their town in eastern Bosnia during the civil war in May 1992.
Some of the prisoners were freed in exchange for captured Serb soldiers.
But most disappeared. Of the 603 presumed to have been killed, 120 have since been found in mass graves.
The oldest person reburied Monday was 86. The youngest, Nedzada Ibrahimovic, was 18 months. She was found lying next to her mother and another child, believed to be her eight-month-old sister, who was still holding her bottle. Identification has not been completed on the younger child.
Nedzada's uncle, Mujo Muharemovic, 45, said almost his entire family was wiped out in 1992 and that he knows that a Serb neighbour did it.
"The perpetrators are still walking around Bratunac. That's why we still live in fear," he said.
Many relatives say they won't be able to come to terms with the deaths until they have a body to bury.
Emina Civic, 27, came to bury her father after waiting 14 years for him to be found and identified.
"The last time I saw him, he stood at the door and told me he'd be back. Well, now he is back and that chapter is closed. I may be able to forgive, but I cannot forget," she said.
Serb members of the association Women in Black travelled from Belgrade to pay tribute to the victims. The group has been trying to raise awareness of war crimes among the Serbian public.
"We are here today to honour the victims and to show solidarity with those in pain," said Stasa Zajovic, a member of the group. "We believe that the Serbian authorities are responsible for all crimes committed in Bosnia,"
More than 100,000 people were killed and 1.8 million driven from their homes during the Bosnian conflict, which pitted Muslim Bosniaks, Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs against one another.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 12 May 2008 )
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