Saturday will mark 20th anniversary of the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica by Bosnian Serb forces during five days in 1995.
According to historians, it was the worst episode of mass murder Muslims in Europe since World War II.
On July 11, Bosnian Serb soldiers swept into a U.N.-designated “safe haven,” taking military-age men, boys, and some elderly men from women, bound their hands, executed them and later dumped their bodies into pits in the surrounding forests.
Two decades on, more than 1,000 victims are still listed as missing.
Human corpses are still being found scattered around the area’s farmland and forests.
Munira Subasic, the president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, who lost 22 relatives in the mass muder, including her husband and son, lamented that many mothers were still unable to bury their dead.
“Some mothers are still searching for the bones of their children,” Ms. Subasic said. “That is our life now — our biggest problem and our greatest mission.”
Tens of thousands of people are likely to attend the commemoration on Saturday (July 11) marking 20 years since the massacre.
The recently identified remains of 136 victims will be interred beneath white marble headstones.