(10 Jul 2012) STORYLINE
The newly discovered remains of 520 victims of the Srebrenica massacre will be buried on Wednesday on the 17th anniversary of the killing of 8-thousand men and boys by Serb forces in 1995 in Srebrenica, the worst massacre of civilians on European soil after World War II.
On Tuesday, workers prepared the graves for the mass burial and commemoration ceremony in Potocari, near Srebrenica.
The remains have been identified after months and sometimes years of DNA tests.
The bodies were excavated years ago but has always been challenging task identifying them as the perpetrators secretly dug up the original mass graves with bulldozers, then drove decomposing remains to other locations and buried them there.
Families of the victims started gathering at a memorial centre near Srebrenica on Tuesday and thousands from around the world are expected to join them, including Holocaust survivor Rabbi Arthur Schneier of the Park East Synagogue, New York.
Schneier said while the families of the victims should never forget what happened, he said "you cannot resurrect" those that have gone.
"You can change today and you can change tomorrow. And that is exactly what political leaders, religious leaders must do; for the sake not only of today, but for future generations," he added.
Schneier added that people most always be prepared to speak out against injustices and silence is never the answer.
"Silence on the part of the international community, on the part of the world, what we have now in Syria, that only strengthens the perpetrators and eventually you pay a very heavy price for silence. So, silence is not the answer, you have to stand up in the face of injustice," he added.
However, as graves were being dug in Srebrenica for 520 massacre victims who will be buried on Wednesday, Serbs in the area refused to acknowledge the crime, defined by the International Court of Justice as genocide.
They insist that the former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic, who is currently on trial on war crimes and genocide charges, including for the Srebrenica slaughter - is a hero and an inspiration for their people.
Rabija Hrustanovic is one of those who would be disgusted by that ideology.
Tomorrow she will bury her brother and husband that were killed 17 years ago in Srebrenica.
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