A Bosnian living abroad has come to Sarajevo for what was supposed to be an ordinary vacation but he was deeply moved when he saw a portrait of his father among the photos of 3,176 war victims from the northwestern town of Prijedor installed in Sarajevo's central park.

Nedzad Besic now lives in Basel, Switzerland, and he had no idea he would come across the memorial to Prijedor victims as he was strolling the city with his girlfriend and her sister.

It didn't take him too long to spot his father and uncle among more than 3,000 pictures scattered all over the park.

“I am deeply sad for that loss, I am sad to be here in front of these images, still I'm happy their faces are seen here in Sarajevo. So that this evil is never forgotten and that it happens never again to anyone,” Besic told Patria news agency.

He often comes to Bosnia and goes to his hometown Kozarac, near Prijedor, whenever he gets free time.

“Everything in my life is related to Kozarac,” he said.

“May 31 is a grievous spot of my life. I heard many stories about my father who was killed in Omarska (camp). I know that he had spent a lot of time in the infamous ‘white house’. Several months ago we found my uncle, who was only 23-years old when he went missing. He will be buried this July,” said Besic.

May 31 or the White Ribbon Day is symbolically marking the anniversary of the period in 1992 when Bosnian Serb authorities in Prijedor ordered all non-Serbs in the area to wear white ribbons and to mark their houses with white sheets.

What followed was mass killings and prison camps for those marked.

In memory of all the victims and those who survived, people across the world but mostly in Bosnia are wearing a white ribbon every May 31.