Collective funeral in Bratunac to be held for 1992 Bosniak victims of war on May 12

Spokesperson for the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina Emza Fazlic told FENA that this year, one identified victim will be laid to rest, along with the remains of several other victims whose identification through DNA analysis has not been possible due to the condition in which the bodies were found.

The remains of the only identified victim to be buried this year belong to Kajtaz (Seco) Salkic, born in 1955 in Hranca. Salkic was 37 years old when he went missing in the Bratunac area in December 1992. His remains were exhumed in 2025 at the Glogova site, after 33 years of searching.

Fazlic stated that this year, the remains of victims from burned houses will also be buried, where the extent of crimes and the damage to the bodies made classical identification methods impossible. By order of the Prosecutor’s Office, as unidentified persons (NN), the remains found at two different locations will be interred in two graves.

“In one grave, the remains exhumed in October 2004 at the Voljavica site, from the burned house of Jasar Omerovic, will be buried.

According to operational data of the Institute for Missing Persons of BiH, at least six people were burned in this house. Due to the poor condition of the burned fragments, DNA identification was not possible,” Fazlić explained.

In the second grave, the remains exhumed at the Suha site in 2002 will be buried. They were found in the burned house of Osman Hodzic, where, according to the Institute’s operational data, at least 18 people were killed.

Although 18 victims were present, DNA profiles and identities were successfully isolated for only four persons from the recovered remains.

The Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina is still searching for 449 victims from the Bratunac area. So far, a total of 1,767 victims have been identified. The exhumations in which these victims were found were carried out at 418 locations.

The Institute and the families of the victims once again appeal to anyone who may have information about the locations of mass graves to share it, so that the remaining families, after more than three decades, can finally find peace, Fazlic said.