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Seven victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide were transported to the Potocari Memorial Cemetery Tuesday, their green-shrouded coffins carried on shoulders from a former battery factory to their final resting place.
The victims will be buried Thursday during commemoration ceremonies marking the 30th anniversary of the massacre, in which Serb forces killed at least 8,372 Bosnian Muslim civilians in what became Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.
Family members wept as the coffins were moved from the former factory building, which served as a United Nations base during the war. Relatives and witnesses to the massacre offered prayers as the funeral procession passed.
The seven victims identified for burial include the youngest, Senajid Avdic and Hariz Mujic, who were both 19 when killed. The oldest victim, Fata Bektic, was 67 at the time of her death and is the only woman among this year's burials.
The complete list of victims to be interred includes Senajid Avdic, Hariz Mujic, Fata Bektic, Hasib Omerovic, Sejdalija Alic, Rifet Gabeljic, and Amir Mujcic.
Following Thursday's ceremony, the total number of victims buried at the memorial cemetery will reach 6,772.
The Srebrenica genocide occurred in July 1995 when Serb forces systematically executed Bosnian Muslim men and boys after loading them onto buses and trucks. The victims were killed in forests, factories and warehouses throughout the region, with bodies subsequently buried in mass graves across the country.
Post-war efforts to locate the missing have led to annual burial ceremonies held every July 11 at the Potocari Memorial Cemetery, where newly identified victims are laid to rest following DNA identification processes.
While 6,765 victims have been buried at Potocari, an additional 250 have been interred in local cemeteries at their families' request. More than 1,000 people killed in the genocide remain missing, their remains yet to be recovered.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and other courts have classified the Srebrenica killings as genocide, with several military and political leaders convicted for their roles in the atrocity.
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