Remains of Couple Married in Wartime Srebrenica Identified

The Institute for the Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina told BIRN on Wednesday that the remains of the couple have been identified by experts at the Podrinje Identification Centre in the town of Tuzla.

Omer Dudic confirmed the identification of his brother, Nijazija Dudic, who was 22, and his wife, Remzija Dudic, who was 20.

The couple met in Srebrenica and got married in 1993.

Dudic said that after the town fell to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995, they all tried to escape together.

“We knew nothing about [what happened to] them. They were beautiful, they were good folks. She could have avoided going with him, but she did not want to. They decided to go together,” Dudic said.

According to other family members who attended the identification, Remzija Dudic was born in Zvornik, while Nijazija Dudic came from the village of Osmace, near Srebrenica.

During an exhumation near Vlasenica, investigators found a few parts of their remains.

As well as a DNA analysis and identification, family members recognised Remzija Dudic from her boots, while Nijazija Dudic’s brother recognised him from residues of his tracksuit.

“According to what their family says, the spouse was in the sixth month of pregnancy. This is really tragic, because we were unable to find the skeletal remains of the child in the mother’s womb during the exhumation,” said Murat Hurtic, an investigator with the Institute for the Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Hurtic told BIRN that he was deeply affected by the identification of the couple’s remains.

“After having worked for so many years, this has really upset me,” he said.

As well as the married couple, the remains of another man, Osman Avdic, were also identified.