Bahrudin Salihovic was 25 years old when he lost his father, as well as “half of his family”, to the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide and now, 25 years later, he will finally get to lay the remains od his father to rest - but only the shin bone.
Salihovic’s father is one of the two newly identified victims of the massacre which former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, described as the worst crime committed on European soil since WWII.
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On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran the eastern Bosnian enclave and rounded up the town’s Muslim Bosniaks, separated men from women and little children and systematically executed some 8,000 men and boys.
The bodies of the victims were dumped into numerous mass graves in the area. Forensic experts excavated them and identified the bones through DNA analysis before returning the bodies to the families. Those rebury them every year on July 11 at the Memorial Centre’s cemetery.
Two international courts, the International Criminal Tribunal (ICTY) for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) later ruled that the massacre was an act of genocide.
Salihovic is one of the few who survived it.
After the war, he returned to his place of birth, Voljavica near Bratunac, where he used to play soccer for the local team, FK Podrinje.
“There is nobody there to play anymore. Of the 11 players then, only I am alive today. I reached liberated territory after marching through the woods for nine days,” he explained.
Bahrudin has been looking for the remains of his father, who was 52 when he was killed, for the past two and a half decades. He was told in February that part of the skeleton was found.
“We decided to pray Janazah for him this July 11, 25 years after he was killed. Mother is still alive and that’s why we made this decision. I still don’t know whether our relatives abroad will have a chance to attend the prayer,” Salihovic said.
