doctor_slump 2008-7-11 07:52 PM
Srebrenica Massacre Victims Buried
Thousands of Muslims from across Bosnia have gathered for a mass burial of Srebrenica massacre victims.The remains of 308 newly identified people aged 15 to 84 - which were exhumed from mass graves after the mid-1990s war - are being laid to rest.
They were identified by DNA technology.
Around 8,000 men and boys were murdered in the 1995 slaughter, Europe's worst atrocity since the Second World War.
Vanesa Mehmedovic, 26, who attended to bury her father Mevludin, said: "It was so hard when they informed me that my father has been identified.
"However, since he is not with us in a way, I'm glad that his soul will finally find peace."
Almost 220 buses ferried around 10,000 people to the burial site and many more were expected to arrive in other vehicles.
Refik Dervisevic, a massacre survivor, arrived after taking part in a 60-mile "March of Peace" with around 2,000 others.
It retraced the route many Muslims used to try and flee Serb forces before being killed.
He said: "This is the third time that I am taking part in the march - the first time I did not remember anything.
"I was just walking being haunted by thoughts.
"Last year I remembered the details from July 1995. I saw the place where I separated from my brother who was killed."
The International Court of Justice and the UN war crimes tribunal have ruled that the massacre, which happened in a UN-protected enclave, was genocide.
But the alleged masterminds - wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic - are still at large.
There were fears of possible anti-Muslim violence during the event after a UN court ruling last week.
The UN appeals court cleared the former commander of Muslim military forces in Srebrenica, Naser Oric, of war crimes against Bosnian Serbs.