August 8, 2016 Faith Matters

The annual reminder of the Srebrenica massacre

A grave digger at work, finishing the final resting place for one of thousands of Bosniak men and boys slaughtered by nationalist Bosnian Serb forces in 1995.

It’s known as the Srebrenica massacre.

One hundred and twenty seven new graves are being added to the more than 6,300 already in this cemetery.

The massacre was Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two.

An abandoned cultural center is one site where the massacre took place. Bullet holes are still visible in the walls.

The victims’ bodies were scattered across the country to conceal what the U.N. declared an act of genocide.

Forensic anthropologist Dragana Vucetic of the International Commission on Missing Persons studies the remains of victims, hoping to identify them.

The burial has become an annual July ritual for Muslim Bosniaks, and has become a reminder of collective suffering.

The U.N. estimates that over a thousand bodies are still missing.