POTOCARI, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Thousands of people have marked the 29th anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre -- Europe's only acknowledged genocide since World War II -- with the burial of the remains of 14 victims identified over the last year.
The ceremony on July 11 saw victims -- whose ages ranged from 17 to 68 when they died -- laid to rest in the 24th collective funeral in the village of Potocari, just north of Srebrenica to commemorate the more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the closing months of Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
More than 6,750 of the estimated 8,300 victims have been interred at the Potocari Memorial Center.
Ramiza Hasanovic told RFE/RL that she identified the remains of her relative, 17-year-old Beriz Mujic, that "the truth can't be hidden" over the July 1995 massacre, which has been ruled an act of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
So far, more than 50 individuals have been sentenced to a total of some 700 years in prison for their roles in the Srebrenica genocide.
Still, the country remains divided over the commemoration.
July 11 has been designated a day of mourning in the Bosnian entity of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Federation.
Two days earlier, the country’s Council of Ministers failed to agree on a resolution to observe a day of mourning throughout the country, as ministers from the ethnic Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, voted against the proposal.
A national day of mourning has not been observed to commemorate the victims of Srebrenica since 2019.
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A commemoration will also be held at the United Nations in New York. The General Assembly in May designated July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Genocide of Srebrenica.
The resolution had sparked protests and a lobbying campaign by Serbia's president and the Bosnian Serb leadership to block the adoption of the resolution, which was sponsored by Germany and Rwanda with 32 co-sponsors, including the United States, France, Britain, and Italy.
More than 50 individuals have been sentenced by various courts to a total of 700 years in prison for genocide and war crimes in connection with the events in Srebrenica.
An international tribunal in The Hague convicted former Bosnian-Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in 2017, sentencing him to life in prison.