Bosnia’s small eastern town Srebrenica on Monday marked the 16th anniversary of the slaughter of more than 8,000 people during the 1993-95 civil war.
The main perpetrator of the massacre, former Bosnian Serb military commander, Ratko Mladic, is standing trial at the international crime court in The Hague for his role in the killings.
Over 40,000 mourners attended the mass burial ceremony as the remains of 613 victims—which were unearthed last year—were reburied at the town’s Potocari Memorial Center alongside the remains of 4,524 Srebrenica victims, according to news reports.
The Srebrenica massacre is considered to be Europe’s largest mass murder since World War II with more than 8,000 unarmed men and boys executed there after Bosnian Serb forces besieged the small town guarded by Dutch United Nations peacekeepers—who were unable to prevent the genocide.
Since then, Bosnia has remained divided by two official governing bodies: the Serb-led, Republika Srpska, and the Bosnian-Croat Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Tchamil Durakovic, deputy mayor of Srebrenica, said that history would serve as a warning to future generations that genocide masterminds will be held accountable for their actions and will be brought to justice.
Durakovic said that he lost many friends in the massacre but managed to escape by crossing the mountains to Tuzla when he was 16 years old.
“We need to gather all of the missing, unearthed bodies; we need to find them, identify and bury them here at the memorial center and we need to bring all war criminals to justice, individually and institutionally,” Durakovic told the BBC.
