07/04/2011

Srebrenica: Mortal remains of at least 1.372 boys, women and men are still missing. Mladic must finally reveal information about locations of all the unknown mass graves!

Alleged mass murderer Ratko Mladic in The Hague court today:

In the name of the Society for Threatened Peoples International (STPI), their founder Tilman Zülch has urgently appealed to the UN International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague (ICTY) to ensure, that the former commander of the Serbian military forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina will promptly provide information about the whereabouts of all the unknown mass graves. "According to the 'Bosnian Institute for Coverage on War Crimes' in Sarajevo, 22.952 people – voluntarily or involuntarily – participated in killing, transporting and burying the victims – or were involved in the military action against Srebrenica. Mladic, being former Commander-in-Chief of the Serb Republic Srpska, should most likely be able to convince his former subordinates to provide information about where these mass graves are located," said Zülch.

So far, the names of 8.372 boys (1.042 minors) and men, who disappeared from Srebrenica and the surrounding villages between July 11th and July 19th 1995 (and after), are known. Less well known is the fact that there were also 570 girls and women among the victims. These figures are confirmed by the Potocari Memorial Center near Srebrenica, associations of victim's mothers, Bosnian genocide-researchers and the ICMP (International Commission on Missing Persons). Previously, the mortal remains of 7.000 Srebrenica victims were found – in whole or in part. By now, 6.594 victims have been identified and 4.524 were buried at the Potocari Memorial Centre Cemetery. On this years 11th of July, around 600 more identified victims will be buried there.

Still, the relatives of 1.372 victims are waiting for clarification of their fate. After 16 years, many elderly and ailing mothers are in fear of having to die before being able to bury their loved ones.

In order to cover their tracks and disguise the murders, the Serbian offenders – in cooperation with the Bosnian-Serb authorities – dug up the "primary" mass graves with excavators and buried the human remains in different places. Subsequently, the bodies were often torn apart – so that identification is very difficult. Quite often, only parts of the victims' remains can be uncovered, identified and passed on to the relatives. Fewer and fewer surviving dependants are able to bury their dead properly.


The Society for Threatened Peoples has two offices in Sarajevo and Srebrenica. Bosniak, Serb, Croat, Jewish and Roma Bosnians are united in this section.