Remains of eight Srebrenica genocide victims ready for burial on July 11 in Potocari

Spokesperson for the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina Emza Fazlic told FENA that this is not the final number, given that families of already identified victims still have until early July to decide on the burial of their loved ones. She added that so far, consent has been given by eight families for burial.

She noted that the Podrinje Identification Project still contains the remains of another eight identified victims for whom families have not yet given consent for burial, as well as the remains of 38 victims identified through DNA analysis, but whose families have not yet proceeded with official identification.

Fazlic explained that this is mainly due to the incompleteness of the skeletal remains, which is why families often do not immediately proceed with identification and burial. Instead, they wait for the opening of new mass graves in the hope of burying more complete remains of their loved ones.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, around 7,573 people are still missing, a significant number of whom are victims of the Srebrenica genocide.

Fazlic stressed that the biggest obstacle in the search for the missing is not time or inaccessible terrain, but the so-called ''wall of silence''.

''We know today that there are people who go to bed every night knowing where mass graves are. These people were once bulldozer drivers, transport escorts, neighbours, or comrades of those who committed these crimes. Their silence is, in fact, a continuing crime. The genocide continues as long as the bodies of victims remain hidden in sinkholes and landfills, deliberately scattered so they can never be reassembled,'' Fazlic said.

She added that families are being told they are not alone and that efforts will not stop until the last bone is found.