Serbian-based NGO holds event to mark Srebrenica genocide

By Talha Ozturk

BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) - A non-governmental organization (NGO) based in the Serbian capital Belgrade staged an event Sunday titled ''Srebrenica - the name of the genocide'' to commemorate its 27th anniversary.

Members of the organization gathered in Republic Square and held placards saying "8372" to mark the number of those killed in the town of Srebrenica, "Srebrenica - the name of the genocide" and "We remember."

The activists said Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, who was convicted of the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica, was glorified by some sections in Serbia.

They called for an end to the denial of the genocide.

Mladic -- dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia -- was once Europe's most wanted man after his role in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague in 2017 unanimously found him guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.

- Srebrenica genocide

More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed when Bosnian Serb forces attacked Srebrenica in July 1995, despite the presence of Dutch peacekeeping troops.

The Serb forces were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.

The UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. However, troops led by Mladic, who was later found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, overran the UN zone.

Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing some 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone.

Around 15,000 residents of Srebrenica fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more people.

The bodies of victims have been found in 570 places in the country.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica.

On June 8, 2021, UN tribunal judges upheld in a second-instance trial a verdict sentencing Mladic to life in prison for the genocide, persecution, crimes against humanity, extermination and other war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina.