Peace march in Bosnia and Herzegovina comes to end
BELGRADE, Serbia (AA) — A three-day peace march marking the 28th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide ended Monday in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The march was attended by thousands of people from all over the world. They commemorated the more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims killed by Serb forces near the Nezuk town in 1995.
The march began in the town of Nezuk and ended at a cemetery in Potocari. A funeral prayer and burial ceremony were also held there for 30 newly identified victims.
The Mars Mira, or Peace March, has been held annually since 2005. It follows the same route used by Bosniaks fleeing the genocide in Srebrenica.
This year, a marathon was also held, starting in the Croatian capital of Zagreb and ending in Potocari, completing the distance of 227-kilometers.
The marathon was organized to commemorate the victims of the attack by Serbian forces on Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The peace marches and marathons serve to commemorate the victims of the genocide and to continue the struggle for peace.
In July 1995, Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces who were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form a state.
The UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a “safe area” in the spring of 1993. However, Serb troops led by Gen. Ratko 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 2,000 men and boys in a single day on July 11.
About 15,000 Srebrenicans fled to the surrounding mountains, but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 more people.
The bodies of the victims of the genocide were found in 570 different parts of 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 and Herzegovina.
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