Writer Mika Vlacovic Vladisavljvic walked for three days from the Serbian town of Loznica to pay his respects to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.

Scores of people are once again expected to gather and pay their respects to the victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide on July 11.

On that day, 23 years ago, more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks from the area of Srebrenica, mostly men and boys, were rounded up and killed by Bosnian Serb armed forces.

After the Bosnian war ended, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ruled it was an act of genocide.

“The only thing I felt coming here is some kind of tranquility in my soul,” the 55-year-old writer said, explaining that he has fulfilled a vow he made by coming to the crime scene.

He said he still cannot comprehend that people were able to do such a thing.

“I can now put a smile back on my face, and I can shed a tear,” he said, adding that as long as people can cry because of somebody else's tragedy, there is hope for this world.

Vladisavljevic lives in Salzburg, Austria, and writes novels, short stories and poetry. He wishes to publish a poem he dedicated to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, which carries a message of peace and humanism.