Bosnia bids farewell to 2 more victims of Prijedor massacre

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday bade farewell to two more victims identified to have been killed in the Prijedor massacre.

The two newly identified Bosniak civilians who were killed in the Bosnian war between 1992 and 1995 were buried at the Kamicani Memorial Center.

Ferid Sikiric and Izet Mesic were both identified 31 years after being killed.

At the event, Bosniak member of the Presidential Council Denis Becirovic said that a three-month-old baby was also killed in the Prijedor massacre.

“We have an obligation to develop a culture of reminder and remembrance. We must always find the strength to fight for truth and justice against those who deny the genocide,” said Becirovic.

The process of adequately identifying victims involves unearthing bodies from mass graves and finding relatives to match DNA samples.

Every year on July 20, newly identified victims of the massacre are buried in a cemetery at the Kamicani Memorial Center near Prijedor.

Prijedor was the site of numerous war crimes against Bosniak civilians by Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. The massacre claimed the lives of 5,209 Bosniaks and Croats, including 4,093 civilians.

On May 31, 1992, the Serbian administration in Prijedor required the non-Serb population to wear white stripes on their arms when they leave their homes – an order that was followed by extermination, murder, and persecution.

Most of the killings took place from May to August 1992.

Between April 1992 and December 1995, an estimated 100,000 people were killed and 2.2 million others were displaced in Bosnia. As many as 50,000 women, mostly Bosniaks, were raped.

The Bosnian War was sparked by the break-up of Yugoslavia, which led Bosnia to declare independence in February 1992.

Its capital, Sarajevo, came under the attack of Bosnian Serb militias, backed by the Yugoslav army, in what became the longest siege in modern history, lasting nearly four years.