Organising committee: No change in schedule of Srebrenica genocide commemoration

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The organising committee for the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide said the commemoration would take place on July 11 as in previous years, despite the problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Stressing that various information on the event, often not accurate, appeared in the public, the committee said it was the only authority to provide correct details on the commemoration set to take place in July.

“We call on the citizens to have understanding for the situation we are in and we are using this opportunity to say we are doing our best to have the 25th anniversary of genocide marked in a dignified manner, the way the victims deserve,” said the committee's press group.

Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced he would attend this year's commemoration at the Potocari memorial.

In April 1993, the UN had declared the besieged enclave of the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica a safe area under UN protection.

However, in July 1995, the Dutch battalion failed to prevent the town's capture by the Bosnian Serb forces and the massacre that followed.

More than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed in the days following July 11, 1995, and so far the remains of more than 6,600 have been found and buried.

The International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY) for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice later ruled that the massacre was an act of genocide.

International and regional courts have sentenced 45 people for what happened in Srebrenica to a total of more than 700 years behind bars. Those who the ICTY sentenced to life imprisonment are Ljubisa Beara, Zdravko Tolimir, and Vujadin Popovic. But the most well known alleged masterminds of what happened in Srebrenica are former Bosnian Serb politician Radovan Karadzic and ex Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, and both have been sentenced for it but have appealed.