More Than Sixty Srebrenica Victims Identified

The Podrinje Identification Project in Tuzla, which coordinates the identification process for Srebrenica victims, told BIRN on Friday that the remains of 61 more people had been identified.

Doctor Rifat Kesetovic from Podrinje Identification Project said that the total number of victims who will be laid to rest could be much larger by July 11 .

On Friday, family members confirmed the identification of six of the victims, whose remains were found in mass graves in Zeleni Jadar, Kamenica and Pusmulici.

“The families gave their agreement so we can lay them to rest at the ceremony in July,” said Kesetovic.

One of them was Naza Becirovic from the village of Hrncic near Bratunac, who identified her husband Omer who was killed in July 1995 after the fall of Srebrenica.

“Until 1993 we were in Konjevic Polje and Cerska and then we went to Srebrenica. We lived there for two and a half years. In July 1995 we were separated. I was transferred to Tuzla with four children and he did not make it out,” said Becirovic.

She decided to give her consent for her husband’s remains to be buried despite the fact that only parts of his body were found.

The 20th anniversary commemoration will last from June 21 to July 17 this year and will involve religious ceremonies, roundtable discussions and history lessons as well as the main memorial event on July 11, when the bodies will be buried.

Local media has already begun speculating that the main commemoration will be attended by former US president Bill Clinton or current leader Barack Obama, as well as presidents of former Yugoslav countries, but the official list of invitees has yet to be completed.

So far, 6,241 identified victims have been buried at the Potocari memorial centre near Srebrenica.