Bosnian Muslims commemorate the genocide in Srebrenica 25 years ago on Saturday 11 July. It is the worst massacre committed on European soil since the Second World War. 

Due to Covid-19's pandemic control measures, organizers expect fewer people than usual to attend this event, which usually draws tens of thousands of people to the memorial each year. 

The official commemorations that begin in the morning will be followed at 11:00 GMT with the burial of the remains of nine victims of the massacre identified since last July. 

Their remains will be buried in the cemetery of the Genocide Memorial Center in Potocari, a village near Srebrenica where the base of the UN protection force (Forpronu) was located during the Bosnian inter-community war (1992-95). 

Over 8,000 Bosniaks massacred

A United Nations "protected area", Srebrenica was taken on July 11, 1995, five months before the end of the war, by Bosnian Serb forces, who massacred more than 8,000 Bosnian men and adolescents in a few days ( Muslims). 

The Bosnian Serb political and military leaders at the material time, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, were sentenced to life imprisonment by international justice, including for the massacre at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo. 

To date, nearly 6,900 victims of the massacre have been found in more than 80 mass graves and identified. Most rest in the Memorial Center. 

The fight against "denial" 

The Srebrenica massacre is the only episode in the Bosnian conflict (100,000 dead) described as an act of genocide by international justice. But its gravity is still downplayed by the political leaders of Bosnian Serbs. 

The Serbian member of the collegiate presidency of Bosnia, Milorad Dodik, refuses the qualification of "genocide" and speaks of "myth". 

"We will continue to insist on the truth, on justice and on the need to try all those who have committed this crime," said Bosnian (Muslim) member of the Bosnian presidency Sefik Dzaferovic on Friday. 

"We will fight against those who deny the genocide and glorify its perpetrators," he added to the Memorial Center, where he attended a collective prayer. 

The Serbian mayor of Srebrenica, Mladen Grijicic, said that "there is new evidence every day that denies the current presentation of everything that has happened" in Srebrenica. 

Due to the impossibility of bringing in crowds in one day, the organizers invited people to visit the Memorial Center throughout July. Several exhibitions have been installed, in particular the paintings of the Bosnian artist Safet Zec devoted to the massacre. 

Another, called "Pourquoi tu n'es pas là?", By the American artist of Bosnian origin Aida Sehovic, consists of more than 8,000 cups of coffee for as many victims of the massacre, placed on the lawn in the Center memorial. 

With AFP

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