Relatives of those killed in Srebrenica on Krstić's statement: "The crime was committed, whether he confessed or not"

In the genocide in Srebrenica, in July 1995, 8.372 people were killed, after the then Army of the Republika Srpska occupied this area in the eastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Cemeteries in Srebrenica, Photo: Shutterstock
Cemeteries in Srebrenica, Photo: Shutterstock
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Nura Begović lost 19 family members in the genocide in Srebrenica. So far, she has found a few bones of Brother Adil.

The forearms and hands remained in the clothes in which he was killed while fleeing Srebrenica in 1995.

She was present at the sentencing of Radislav Krstić before the Hague Tribunal.

In a statement to Radio Free Europe (RSE), after Krstić admitted responsibility for the genocide in Srebrenica in his request for early release, he says that "he is certainly not doing it from the heart, but only to get a pardon".

"He would come to Potočare, what he said is important, but certainly the families would not want to meet him," says Begović.

In the genocide in Srebrenica, in July 1995, 8.372 people were killed, after the then Army of Republika Srpska occupied this area in the eastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Among those who lost their loved ones is Kada Hotić.

The last time she saw her son Samir was on July 11, 1995, when the Republika Srpska Army entered Srebrenica, in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

They parted at the gas station in Srebrenica, and he headed along the forest roads with other men towards Tuzla, that is, towards the territory under the control of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBIH).

According to her knowledge, he was caught and taken to the stadium in Nova Kasaba, a place about thirty kilometers from Srebrenica. She never saw her again.

According to Kada's knowledge, he was killed, and the body was moved several times to secondary mass graves, which is why it was never found completely.

His remains were found in the tomb of Liplje, as she previously told Radio Free Europe, and only three parts of one leg.

"I think he (Krstić) got his sentence, these are their tricks, they are trying to get out of custody and Plavšić confessed and when she got out she immediately said she would do the same thing again. We will advertise if they let him out early, it is a crime committed, whether he confessed or not," Kada Hotić told RFE/RL, commenting on Krstić's letter.

And Murat Tahirović, from the Association of Genocide Victims and Witnesses, believes that Krstić's confession is a "false acceptance of court-established facts."

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the search is still on for the remains of more than 7.500 victims of the war in the nineties, of which 1.200 are in Srebrenica alone.

In 2007, the International Court of Justice in The Hague issued a verdict stating that in July 1995, in Srebrenica, which was then a UN protected zone, the Army of Republika Srpska committed genocide.

Before various courts, more than 50 people have been sentenced to a total of more than 700 years in prison for genocide and war crimes in Srebrenica.

Among them are the former president of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, and the commander of the former Army of the Republika Srpska, Ratko Mladić, who were legally sentenced to life imprisonment in The Hague.

The same court found Serbia guilty of not preventing the genocide and that it violated the obligation to punish the perpetrators of the genocide.

In May of this year, the UN General Assembly adopted a Resolution declaring July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance for the Genocide in Srebrenica.

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