Association of war victims Foca 92-95 marked on Sunday the Day of Remembrance for the Bosniak victims of this eastern Bosnian town killed in the 1992-95 war.

The association members gathered for the first time at the location which used to serve as a concentration camp during the war. They threw roses into the Drina river from a nearby bridge, commemorating their loved ones.

The International Court Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) ruled in numerous verdicts that the ethnic cleansing, killings, mass rapes and the deliberate destruction of Bosniak property and cultural sites constituted crimes against humanity. The court accused and convicted of war crimes numerous Serb officers, soldiers and other participants in the Foca massacres.

“Thousands of our dear, our dearest ones were executed, tortured, raped, disappeared in those sad events in Foca from 1992 through 1995. For some, it was a war. No, we say it was a genocide and ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks. A sad Foca statistics prove that,” said Association Chairwoman Halida Konjo-Uzunovic.

“The innocent ones were killed only because they were Bosniaks because they had a pure faith and a Muslim name,” she added.

The commemoration was attended by representatives of Foca Islamic Community, Foca Municipal Assembly Speaker Izet Spahic and representatives of the victims’ associations.

“It is hard to say anything here today. What has to be sent as a message from this place is that it is our permanent task to remember the genocide victims in Foca and to search for 625 missing ones,” said Spahic.