41 GENOCIDE VICTIMS REBURIED IN BRATUNAC

BRATUNAC, Bosnia (May 13,2008) — Thousands of mourners gathered yesterday in the eastern Bosnian town of Bratunac to rebury the remains of 41 Bosnian civilians slaughtered and swept into mass graves by the genocidal Serbian aggressor during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Among the bodies of genocide victims were nine children, four of whom were found alongside the bodies of their mothers.

After the bodies were exhumed from mass grave, the genocide victims' families helped identify them by examining clothing or personal items and by giving blood for DNA analysis.

The victims were among 800 Bosnian civilians detained when the genocidal Serbian aggressor attacked Bratunac in May 1992.

Some of the prisoners were freed in exchange for the genocidal Serbian aggressor's soldiers captured by the Bosnian Army.But most disappeared. Of the 603 presumed to have been murdered, 120 have since been found in mass graves.

The oldest genocide victim reburied yesterday was 86. The youngest, Nedzada Ibrahimovic, was 18 months. She was found lying next to her mother and another child, believed to be her eight-month-old sister Mirzeta, who was still holding 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 that a Serbian still living in Bosnia did it.

"The perpetrators are still walking around Bratunac," he said.

Many 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.

A member of the Bosnian State Presidency Zeljko Komsic stated that Bosnia cannot seize to be the country of mass graves and war criminals still out free.

"Not only in Bosnia but they are all around the region hiding. Here we are burying 41 victims of war crimes and 41 families will finally have the resting place of the dearest. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are far finding their own”, stated Komsic.

Fata Orlovic from Konjevic Polje who is struggling for years to relocate an illegally built Orthodox Christian Church from her yard stated for the press:

"How do I feel? How should I feel? Horrible! Look how many mothers came today. My 22 nephews are gone. I buried my husband, so how should I feel?!”, she stated after the funeral.
.