Zagreb, 11 July 2025 (Hina/MIA) -- Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković sent a message from Srebrenica, eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, that the crime of genocide committed there 30 years ago must be remembered forever and that all must be done to ensure such evil never happens again.

Thousands of people gathered Friday to mark the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, in which members of the Bosnian Serb army and police killed more than 8,000 Bosniaks, mostly men and boys.

The mass killings that followed the fall of the UN-protected enclave in July 1995 were classified as genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice, with Bosnian Serb military and political leaders Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution, supported by Croatia, designating July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide.

Speaking at the commemoration in Potočari, just outside Srebrenica, Plenković said he was honoring the victims and their families with deep respect, sorrow and compassion, and remembering "the most horrific crime committed on European soil since the Second World War", in which people were brutally murdered simply because they were Bosniaks.

He emphasized that both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina had been victims of Milošević's regime, noting that Croatia is still searching for more than 1,744 missing persons and therefore deeply sympathises with those in BiH who continue to live with the pain of their missing loved ones.

"Srebrenica is more than a site of suffering – it is a symbol of warning. Here, evil took on its most extreme genocidal form," Plenković said, adding that international mechanisms and basic principles of humanity had failed in Srebrenica.

He stressed how important this message was today, in a time marked by ongoing wars, when people need to recognize how precious peace truly is.

"Remembering Srebrenica is a universal message that such crimes must never happen again," the Croatian PM said.

True reconciliation, he added, can only be built on truth, justice and sincerity, and Croatia, looking forward, strongly supports BiH on its path to EU membership.

No room for genocide denial

Other international officials echoed similar messages at the commemoration.

European Council President António Costa pledged to keep the memory of the Srebrenica victims alive and reaffirmed the EU's unwavering commitment to truth.

"There is no room – in Europe or anywhere else – for genocide denial," said Costa, adding that acknowledging the full truth was the first step in ensuring that such atrocities never happen again.

He said he believes the place of Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the EU and that the country will have full support on that path.

Graciela Gatti Santana, President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, the successor to the ICTY, said the "brutal genocide" of 1995 was fuelled entirely by ethnic hatred and warned of the disturbing practice of denying court-established facts about the crimes.

IRMCT Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said the only sincere way to honor the victims of Srebrenica is by telling the truth, and the truth is that genocide was committed.

High Representative for BiH Christian Schmidt also called for the dignity of the victims to be preserved by locating the remains of around 1,000 people from Srebrenica who are still unaccounted for, and by opposing every attempt to deny the genocide. He added that this is the least that can be done, given the international community's failure to act more decisively to prevent the atrocities. He also appealed for the Dayton Agreement to be preserved as the foundation of peace in BiH.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said the Srebrenica genocide would never be forgotten and remains a deep scar in European history. She stressed that honoring the victims means defending the rights they were denied by building a stronger European community in which everyone lives in peace and dignity with full protection of their rights.

Kos said that she sees BiH at the very heart of that community.

NATO remains a guarantor of BiH's security

Britain’s King Charles III sent a special message of solidarity with the victims' families, while NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed that the Alliance, which helped end the war in 1995, remains a guarantor of BiH's security.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp reiterated his country's apology for the failure of Dutch UN peacekeepers to protect Srebrenica from the Bosnian Serb attack in 1995.

It is a bitter reality that such crimes can happen again, Veldkamp said, pointing to the ongoing wars around the world, from Ukraine to Sudan.

Munira Subašić, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association, appealed for global action to prevent the violence and crimes taking place in today's conflicts.

"Many mothers in Ukraine and Palestine are going through what we went through in Srebrenica in 1995," said Subašić.

Remains of seven victims laid to rest

Following the commemoration, the remains of seven genocide victims were buried at the memorial cemetery within the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Complex – in most cases, only fragments of their skeletons.

Among those buried were Senajid Avdić and Hariz Mujić, who were only 19 years old when they were killed.

Senajid's brother, Zejad Avdić, told reporters that only his brother's skull and a few bones were found in 2010 at Kameničko Brdo, one of the routes Srebrenica residents used in an attempt to escape the occupied enclave.

"We waited in case more bones might be found, but they told us the chances were slim, so we decided to go ahead with the burial," said Avdić.

Also laid to rest on Friday were Fata Bektić (67), Hasib Omerović (33), Sejdalija Alić (33), Rifet Gabeljić (31) and Amir Mujčić (31). As with the others, only a few bones were buried.

Mevlida Omerović said that just two bones belonging to her husband – who was captured on July 11 and later executed – were found in 1998, and that she had waited in vain for decades in the hope that more remains would be located.

"I've waited 30 years and I have nothing left to wait for. I want to know where his grave is so I can visit it," she said, adding that all she can hope for now is that justice will reach those responsible.

Following the fall of Srebrenica, families reported 8,372 people as missing. To date, the remains of just under 7,000 of them have been found and exhumed, while the search continues for the others.

Most of the identified victims have been buried at the memorial cemetery in Potočari.