Bosnians honour Srebrenica genocide victims 30 years on
Thousands of Bosnians gathered at a cemetery near Srebrenica on Friday to mark the 30th anniversary of a massacre in which more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys were executed by Bosnian Serb forces during a 1992-5 war.
- World
- Published Date: 01:11 | 11 July 2025
- Modified Date: 01:13 | 11 July 2025
About 1,000 victims have yet to be found from Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two, which still haunts Bosnia and Herzegovina's 3 million people decades later. Families who retrieved victims' remains have increasingly opted to bury even just a few bones to give them a final resting place.
At a ceremony on Friday, the partial remains of seven victims were to be buried alongside 6,750 already interred. Survivors, families and dignitaries walked along rows of white gravestones.
Some prayed and cried at the gravesides or sat motionless, heads buried in their hands. "I feel such sadness and pain for all these people and youth," said a woman called Sabaheta from the eastern town of Gorazde.
Two international courts have ruled the massacre was genocide but Serb leaders in Bosnia and Serbia dispute the term, the death toll and the official account of what went on – reflecting conflicting narratives of the Yugoslav wars that still feed political divisions and stifle progress toward integration with Western Europe and the EU.
Last year, the U.N. General Assembly declared July 11 an international day of remembrance of the Srebrenica genocide, with many countries organising commemorations this year. "This can never be forgotten. Who can say this wasn't a genocide? Only a person without a soul," Sabaheta said.