Hatidza Mehmedovic is dead

The Society for Threatened Peoples mourns the loss of its longtime associate and president of the “Mothers of Srebrenica”, Hatidza Mehmedovic. She had been ill for quite a while before she died in Sarajevo on Sunday evening, at the age of 66 years. “Before the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hatidza Mehmedovic was a housewife and mother. Later – after losing her two sons, Azmir and Almir, her husband, her brothers, and numerous male family members in the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995 – she became one of the leading female advocates for truth and justice in Bosnia,” the STP praised her.

“Despite her terrible fate, Hatidza Mehmedociv never spoke a word of hatred – and she didn’t demand retribution. She identified herself with all victims of crimes against humanity all over the world, regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliation,” the STP stated. She campaigned against the wars in Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Burma, and other places, and she received praise from personalities such as Mia Farrow, Angelina Jolie, Angela Merkel, Bill Clinton and others.

Mehmedovic founded the association “Mothers of Srebrenica” with support from the STP, and she returned to the former UN protection zone in eastern Bosnia in 2002 in order to support family members of genocide victims and returnees. On the 11th of each month, she organized silent vigils in Tuzla and Srebrenica – together with other mothers – to commemorate their sons, husbands, brothers and other relatives who got killed in Srebrenica.

Hatidza worked with the Tribunal in The Hague, and she supported all our vigils in front of the ICTY building. “She wanted to see the perpetrators punished so that the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina could live together in peace again,” the STP stated. “Mrs. Mehmedovic made a major contribution to the founding of the Potocari Memorial Center, as well as to spreading the truth about the genocide in Srebrenica. She earned a lot of praise and respect in the country itself and abroad. The surviving Srebrenica victims and we, the Society for Threatened Peoples, will never forget her – and we will aim to continue her great work.”

Hatidza Mehmedovic’s two sons and husband were buried in Potocari on July 11, 2010, after the remains of their elder son Azmir were found in the mass grave Pilice near Zvornik, while the remains of her younger son Almir and her husband were found in a mass grave in Liplje near Zvornik. The skeleton of the older son was nearly complete, but the remains of her younger son and her husband were incomplete. 

Hatidza Mehmedovic will be buried next Wednesday (July 25) in her birthplace Bektici-Suceska near Srebrenica.

Picture: STP