A day after the 25th anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide and burial of nine more victims, authorities have started the process of digging up the remains of 68 victims buried in previous years so their newly discovered bones can be reburied with them.
Spokesperson of Bosnia’s Institute for Missing Persons, Emza Fazlic, said that the process of reexhumation, which was approved by the families of the victims, will last throughout the week.
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On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran the eastern Bosnian enclave and rounded up the town’s Muslim Bosniaks, separated men from women and little children and systematically executed some 8,000 men and boys.
Following the killings and the initial burial of the victims, the perpetrators of the massacres dug up the remains and reburied them at other locations in what is known as “secondary mass graves”, in an effort to cover up the crime.
This was mostly done with bulldozers and the machines tore up many of the bodies in the process. By the time the remains were reburied into another mass grave, the bodies were simply a mix of bones.
Apart from some 1,000 victims who have still not been found, most of those laid to rest at the Srebrenica Memorial Centre are still missing parts of their bodies which are presumed buried in yet uncovered mass graves.
Every year, forensic experts excavate remains of more victims, as well as those belonging to some who were already laid to rest.
