Survivor of the Srebrenica genocide: ‘It will happen to us again’ | Genocide News

Survivors of the Srebrenica genocide, in which Bosnian Serb forces systematically killed more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims and boys over several days, have celebrated the 26th anniversary of the killings.

Coffins with the remains of 19 Bosnians found in mass graves and recently identified by DNA tests will be buried on Sunday in a cemetery in memory of the victims of the genocide in the eastern Bosnian town.

Vahid Suljic was a nine-year-old boy from the nearby village of Voljavica at the time, who sought refuge with his family in Srebrenica.

He survived the genocide, but what he saw left him traumatized for years.

Suljic recounted his experiences and told Al Jazeera that he feared that genocide could be committed again against the Bosnians if the Serbs continue to deny the genocide and the ongoing tensions rekindle.

Escape to Srebrenica

Between 1992 and 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina plunged into ethnic war by pitting Serbs, Croats, and Bosnian Muslims against each other. About 100,000 people were killed.

Bosnian Serb forces began attacking towns, villages and cities throughout Bosnia in 1992 with the aim of not “ethnically cleansing” Serbs in the region in order to create Greater Serbia.

As for Suljic’s family, the nightmare began in May 1992 when they learned that they had been tortured, killed and tortured, killed and taken away by Bosnian Muslim paramilitary units in areas adjacent to Voljavica, near the Serbian border.

Fearing that they might soon face a similar fate, the Suljic family fled to the surrounding forests where they remained hidden for about two weeks. It was at this time that Serbian paramilitaries arrived in their village and burned elderly people who could not escape to the forest in a house alive, Suljic said.

To save their lives, a group of 250 Bosnian civilians from Voljavica decided to take a full-day trek through the forest to Srebrenica, 15 km (9.3 miles) away, since it was then controlled by the Bosnian army.

During the trip, Serbian forces ambushed the group twice by machine-gunning. Suljic said there were 30-50 shooters in each “machine gun nest.” About 60-70 Bosnians were killed in the ambush.

Her family, including her 10-year-old sister, survived being dumped in the nearby creek and waiting until dusk before continuing on to Srebrenica.

“Actually, they were preparing us like we were hunting wild animals [to kill us] in many places, ”Suljic said.

“Srebrenica was besieged on all sides and they knew that the people around them were trying to get into Srebrenica, and they were preparing for that.”

The genocide took place, although Srebrenica was a “safe area” protected by the United Nations, and about 50,000 Bosnians sought refuge.

Genocide

When the “safe area” of Srebrenica fell to Serbian forces on July 11, 1995, Suljic and his family sought refuge inside the outside and inside the UN-based battery factory that housed a UN battalion of Dutch soldiers among thousands.

UN peacekeepers from the Netherlands are sitting on an armored vehicle carrying Bosnian Muslim refugees from Srebrenica (eastern Bosnia) seeking refuge in the nearby village of Potocari. [File: AP Photo]

He saw the forces of the Serbian Suljic, wearing UN uniforms to represent the Dutch soldiers, entering freely and observing all who were at the base.

As people slept through the night, Serbian forces separated the men from their families to kill them and forced some women and girls out of the base and raped them.

Suljic said Dutch soldiers had done nothing to stop what Serbian forces were doing.

“[Serb forces] they did what they wanted. They had complete control over the base. “

“I remember [Bosniak] the man screams and asks for help every night, ”Suljic said.

During the day, Suljic would hear loud shouts in the woods as he went to fetch water from a river in the field near the base.

“I saw the bodies [there], beheaded … impossible to describe in words “.

In 2019, it was upheld by the Dutch Supreme Court partial liability Dutch forces have killed about 350 Bosnian Muslims killed by Serbs in Srebrenica.

Bosnians killed with Suljic surname appear at Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center [Courtesy of Vahid Suljic]

After being at the base for three days, the buses arrived. The Dutch soldiers informed them that the women and children would be evacuated to the city of Tuzla, in a liberated territory controlled by the Bosnian army, but that all men between the ages of 11 and 77 had to stay and wait for another bus to pick them up. .

When Suljic’s uncle took him to the bus, the Serbian soldiers forcibly separated him and Suljic did not see his uncle again.

“As we were traveling to Tuzla, we saw the captured men being shot. Among them, I met my neighbors, I played with them before and during the war. They seemed scared and traumatized, ”Suljic said.

When the women and children arrived in Tuzla, they stayed in a refugee camp and waited for news of their fairies.

Vahid Suljic prays to his uncle Vahdet Suljic at his grave in Srebrenica – Potocari Memorial and Cemetery [Courtesy of Vahid Suljic]

Suljic’s father managed to escape and after wandering through the forest for seven days, crossing Serbian lines and surviving shootings and ambushes, Hunjic’s father was among the surviving Bosnian minorities.

A couple of years ago, Suljic’s family received a phone call informing them that their uncle’s bodies had been found in various mass graves.

His father’s brother Vahdet Suljic, then 28, was later found in several different mass graves, 30 km (about 19 miles) away. Some of his remains have already been buried twice, but more than half of his remains are still missing.

In just three days, Serbian forces killed more than half of the family, including uncles, cousins ​​and other relatives, Suljic said.

Denial of genocide

Several thousand Serbs and Bosnians continue to live in the impoverished village of Srebrenica. Suljic said it is a “dead city” today, with no solution. He currently lives in the Gulf state of Qatar.

Although 26 years have passed since the genocide, those who are still alive are still denying the historical facts that have been repeatedly confirmed by the international courts in The Hague against the Serbs.

Posters and graffiti praising Ratko Mladic, Led and punished the Bosnian Serb forces by the general genocide, are regularly found in Serb-populated areas of Bosnia as well as nearby Serbia and Montenegro.

Advertisement in Bratunac #SrebrenicaGenocide #bratunac pic.twitter.com/YT3mm82eqQ

– ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ????꧂ (@K_U_P_E_K) July 10, 2021

Before the 26th anniversary of the genocide, Bosnian media reported on Friday that they were celebrating Serbian war celebrations in the backyard of a church above the memorial center, teasing music.

Srebrenica Genocide Denial Final Report (PDF) published by the Srebrenica Memorial Center on Friday last year identified at least 234 cases of genocide denial in public speeches and in the media, most of which occurred in Serbia.

Srebrenica Genocide Denial Report 2021: In 2021, the three most common tactics used in genocide denial continue to discuss the number and identity of victims, conspiracy theories that question int decisions and integrity. courts and nationalist historical revisionism. pic.twitter.com/2dBygweYvS

– Srebrenica Memorial Center (@SrebrenicaMC) July 10, 2021

The report found that most of the deniers of the Srebrenica genocide work in the public sector, including those with positions in 28 state and institutional governments. As frighteningly, many of them served in the Serbian political and military apparatus during the Bosnian war.

Report editor Lejla Gacanica told a news conference on Friday that denials of genocide and praise of war crimes have intensified in the past year and denial in the region is part of the Serbian state’s strategy.

According to Gregory H Stanton, aware of the American genocide, he created it “10 stage of genocide”The theory is that denial is“ one of the most likely indicators of further genocidal massacres ”.

Suljic said tensions of fire and denial of genocide still pose serious risks for the future.

“If the situation continues like this, I think Srebrenica [another genocide] it will happen to us again “.