\n Bosnian Muslims on Saturday mark 25 years since the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II, with the memorial ceremony sharply reduced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.\n<\/p>\n
\n Organisers said the number of people attending the anniversary -- usually in the tens of thousands -- is likely to be lower than usual because of lockdown measures aimed at stemming the spread of COVID-19.\n<\/p>\n
\n Proceedings are scheduled to start in the morning.\n<\/p>\n
\n Then, at 1100 GMT, the remains of nine victims identified over the past year will be laid to rest at the memorial cemetery in Potocari, a village just outside Srebrenica that served as the base for the UN protection force, FORPRONU, during the conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n On July 11, 1995, after capturing the ill-fated town, Serb forces killed more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in a few days.\n<\/p>\n
\n The episode -- labelled as genocide by two international courts -- came at the end of a 1992-1995 war between Bosnia's Croats, Muslims and Serbs that claimed some 100,000 lives.\n<\/p>\n
\n So far, the remains of nearly 6,900 victims have been found and identified from more than 80 mass graves.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bosnian Serb wartime military chief general Ratko Mladic, still revered as a hero by many Serbs, was sentenced to life in prison by a UN court in 2017 over war crimes including the Srebrenica genocide. He is awaiting the decision on his appeal.\n<\/p>\n
\n Radovan Karadzic, another Bosnian Serb wartime political leader, was also sentenced to life in prison in The Hague.\n<\/p>\n
\n - War against denial -\n<\/p>\n
\n The Srebrenica massacre is the only episode of the Bosnian conflict to be described as genocide by the international community.\n<\/p>\n
\n And while for Bosnian Muslims recognising the scale of the atrocity is a necessity for lasting peace, for most Serbs -- leaders and laypeople in both Bosnia and Serbia -- the use of the word genocide remains unacceptable.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the run-up to the anniversary, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic described Srebrenica as \"something that we should not and cannot be proud of\", but he has never publicly uttered the word \"genocide\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Several thousand Serbs and Muslims live side by side in impoverished Srebrenica, a lifeless town in eastern Bosnia with just a few shops in its centre.\n<\/p>\n
\n On Friday, the town's Serbian mayor Mladen Grujicic -- who was elected in 2016 after a campaign based on genocide denial -- said that \"there is new evidence every day that denies the current presentation of everything that has happened\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik has also described the massacre as a \"myth\".\n<\/p>\n
\n But on Friday, the Muslim member of Bosnia's joint presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic, said: \"We will tirelessly insist on the truth, on justice and on the need to try all those who have committed this crime\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We will fight against those who deny the genocide and glorify its perpetrators,\" he said at the memorial centre where he attended a collective prayer.\n<\/p>\n
\n In order to avoid large crowds on Saturday, organisers have invited people to visit the memorial centre over the whole month of July.\n<\/p>\n
\n A number of different exhibitions are on display, including paintings by Bosnian artist Safet Zec.\n<\/p>\n
\n Another installation, entitled \"Why Aren't You Here?\" by US-Bosnian artist Aida Sehovic, comprises more than 8,000 cups of coffee spread out on the cemetery's lawn.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We still haven't answered the question why they are no longer here,\" she told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"How could this have happened in the heart of Europe, that people were killed in such a terrible way in a UN protected area? Not to mention the fact that the genocide is still being denied.\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bosnian Muslims on Saturday mark 25 years since the Srebrenica massacre, the worst atrocity on European soil since World War II, with the memorial ceremony sharply reduced as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Organisers said the number of people attending the anniversary -- usually in the tens of thousands -- is likely to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-44865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n