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Bosnian Muslim war victims buried

ALMIR ARNAUT
May 12, 2008 8:12 AM

BRATUNAC, Bosnia-Herzegovina-Forty-one victims of a Serb attack on an eastern Bosnia town 16 years ago were buried by more than 4,000 of their friends and relatives Monday.

The Muslim Bosniaks were found in a mass grave near the town of Bratunac, where more than 600 people went missing in May 1992.

The oldest person buried was 86, the youngest, Nedzada Ibrahimovic, was 18 months old. She was found lying next to her mother and another child, believed to be her 8-month-old sister, who was still holding on to her bottle. Identification has not been completed on the younger child.

Nedzada's uncle, Mujo Muharemovic, 45, said almost his entire family was wiped out in 1992 and that he knows a Serb neighbor did it.

"The perpetrators are still walking around Bratunac. That's why we still live in fear," he said.

Serb forces gathered more than 800 Muslim Bosniaks in the school in 1992 and held them there for days before exchanging some of them for their own soldiers. Of the 603 who went missing, the bodies of 120 were later found in mass graves.

Among the bodies, forensic experts found nine children, four of whom had been buried alongside the bodies of their mothers. After the bodies were exhumed, the victims' families helped identify them by recognizing clothing or personal items and by giving their blood for a DNA analysis.

Many of the relatives say they won't be able to come to terms with the deaths until they have a body to bury.

Emina Civic, 27, came to bury her father after waiting 14 years for him to be found and identified.

"The last time I saw him, he stood at the door and told me he'd be back. Well, now he is back and that chapter is closed. I may be able to forgive, but I cannot forget," she said.

Serb members of the association Women in Black traveled from Belgrade to pay tribute to the victims. The group has been trying to raise awareness of the crimes among the Serbian public.

"We are here today to honor the victims and to show solidarity with those in pain. We believe that the Serbian authorities are responsible for all crimes committed in Bosnia," said Stasa Zajovic, a member of Women in Black.

More than 100,000 people were killed and 1.8 million driven from their homes during the Bosnian conflict, which pitted Muslim Bosniaks, Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs against each other.


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