- Title: Srebrenica survivor on mission to find massacre victims' remains
- Date: 7th July 2020
- Summary: KONJEVIC POLJE, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (JULY 6, 2020) (REUTERS) MAN WHO SEARCHES FOR REMAINS OF SREBRENICA VICTIMS, RAMIZ NUKIC, UNCOVERING SKULL NUKIC LOOKING AT SKULL VARIOUS OF NUKIC HOLDING SKULL (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "I started looking for bones in 2005. First I started looking for my brothers and father, since I couldn't find them, I was drawn to looking for bones to help the families of the missing, but also the Missing Persons Institute." NUKIC WALKING IN FOREST VARIOUS OF NUKIC RAKING THROUGH UNDERGROWTH LOOKING FOR BONES (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "I made many mothers happy, and those who are looking for their missing people. I think I will make others who are looking for their missing family members happy." VARIOUS OF NUKIC RAKING THROUGH UNDERGROWTH LOOKING FOR BONES (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "I have made a promise to myself and that is that until everyone is found I will not stop searching for them." NUKIC WALKING IN FOREST VARIOUS OF NUKIC LOOKING AT SKULL NUKIC SITTING BY TREE WITH SKULL (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "It's hard for me whenever I come to this place. I hear screams, moans, asking for help, so all the memories come back to me. But no matter what, I try not to think and try to find the bones, and thinking that one (more) mother will be happy makes everything easier." RAMIZ SITTING SMOKING A CIGARETTE RAMIZ' EYES RAMIZ' HANDS HOLDING CIGARETTE RAMIZ SMOKING (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "We are currently in the infamous 'Bukva' where about 1000 people were killed." VARIOUS OF RAMIZ LOOKING AT CLOTHES OF MURDERED PEOPLE SHOES OF MURDERED PEOPLE SPOON RESTING BY SHOES RAMIZ LOOKING ON RAMIZ HOLDING SPOON AND BOTTLE OF MEDICINE (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "In those moments when I find the bones, I forget about the screams (moaning). But then I think about their death and what it was like, how they suffered. I will die and I will not have answer that question (of how they died)." VARIOUS DRONE FOOTAGE OF FOREST (MUTE) POTOCARI, BOSNIA-HERZEGVOINA (JULY 6, 2020) (REUTERS) NUKIC ARRIVING AT POTOCARI MEMORIAL CENTRE NEAR SREBRENICA WHERE HIS FATHER AND BROTHERS ARE BURIED PLAQUE WITH TEXT READING (Bosnian): "8372... NUMBER OF VICTIMS, NOT FINAL" NUKIC PRAYING IN FRONT OF MEMORIAL ENGRAVED WITH NAMES OF DEAD VARIOUS OF NUKIC SHOWING NAMES OF FAMILY MEMBERS VARIOUS OF NUKIC PRAYING NUKIC WALKING IN MEMORIAL (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "My goal was to find my family, two brothers, my father and an uncle." VARIOUS OF NUKIC WALKING AMONG GRAVE MARKERS NUKIC WALKING TO GRAVE OF HIS FATHER AND BROTHERS AND STARTING TO PRAY NUKIC PRAYING (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "I didn't find them, they found them in mass graves, they're buried here." DRONE FOOTAGE OF GRAVE MARKERS (MUTE) (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) SREBRENICA GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, RAMIZ NUKIC, SAYING: "I think I found somewhere around 300 complete and incomplete bodies buried here." VARIOUS DRONE FOOTAGE OF MEMORIAL (MUTE)
- Embargoed: 21st July 2020 14:19
- Keywords: 25th anniversary Balkan wars Bosnian war Srebrenica massacre murder of Muslim Bosniaks
- Location: KONJEVIC POLJE AND POTOCARI, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
- City: KONJEVIC POLJE AND POTOCARI, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
- Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001CLT9A2V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS SHOTS OF A HUMAN SKULL BEING HANDLED
***WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES***
Srebrenica genocide survivor Ramiz Nukic has made himself a promise - he will search for the remains of victims of the mass killing 25 years ago until the last of them is found.
Walking through the woods above his home in the hamlet of Kamenice, Nukic has found remains and personal belongings that have helped identify about 300 out of 1,000 men killed by Bosnian Serb troops there in July 1995.
The 59-year-old father of five said he began the search 15 years ago, hoping to find the remains of his father, uncle and two brothers who went missing after the slaughter.
Nukic said the thought of giving relatives of missing people some comfort spurs him on, as he showed a human skull and a bone he found in the forest a couple of weeks ago.
He passes his findings on to investigators of the Institute for Missing Persons, who then match the human remains with DNA samples donated by the relatives of the missing to identify them.
The massacre took place 25 years ago this month during the Bosnian war of the 1990s. Bosnian Serb forces commanded by General Ratko Mladic attacked the eastern enclave of Srebrenica, where about 40,000 Bosnian Muslims had found shelter under United Nations protection.
After Srebrenica fell into Serb hands on July 11, 1995, the women and children were separated from men and bussed to territory controlled by the Bosnian army.
The men and boys were killed, while others who tried to escape through the woods were captured, detained and executed.
The United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had established the killings of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys constituted genocide.
Mladic and his political mentor Radovan Karadzic were also convicted of genocide in Srebrenica.
After the Serbs attacked Srebrenica, Nukic sent his family to the U.N.-protected camp in nearby Potocari while he joined 15,000 men on an escape march through the woods.
He survived and was the only one who returned in 2002 to his village. He found the first skeleton while cleaning his ruined house.
"It's hard for me whenever I come to this place," Nukic said. But he said he will go on searching "until everyone is found".
(Production: Dado Ruvic) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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