Serbs Admit 1995 Massacre of Muslims

11/06/2004| IslamWeb

Bosnian Serbs have admitted for the first time that their forces killed several thousand Muslims in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, saying the perpetrators had tried to cover up the worst atrocity in Europe since The Second World War. A report by a Bosnian Serb government commission said that it has "established that during the 10-19 July 1995 period several thousand Boshniaks (Muslims) were liquidated in a way which represents grave violations of international humanitarian law." "The perpetrators undertook measures to cover up the crime by moving the bodies," from the place where the victims were killed to other locations, said the report. **Refusal*** Bosnian Serbs had previously refused to acknowledge the extent of the Srebrenica massacre of some 7000 Muslim men and boys, carried out by heavily armed Serb troops which overran a small force of United Nations peacekeepers protecting the enclave. The commission "established participation (in the massacre) of military and police units, including special units of the Bosnian Serb interior ministry," said the report, which was submitted earlier on Friday to the government of Republika Srpska. In 2002, the Bosnian Serb government issued a report minimising the number of victims, triggering outrage among survivors and the international community. The commission was set up in January under heavy international pressure. **'The triumph of evil'*** Described by the UN war crimes tribunal as "the triumph of evil", the July 1995 massacre ironically took place in Serebrencia which was described as a "safe area" by the UN three months earlier. Seeking a safe haven, around 30,000 Muslims fled the advancing Serb army and crowded into the town which was protected by Dutch peacekeepers. Following the onslaught, no Muslim was left in the town as many fled while those who stayed were rounded up and murdered. While some were taken to execution sites where they were shot with automatic rifles, others were buried alive, according to Jean-Rene Ruez, a French policemen who collected evidence from Bosnian Muslims and testified at the Hague tribunal in 1996. Post-war Bosnia consists of two semi-independent entities - the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Coffins containing the remains of some of the victims. (Al-Jazeera)