Srebrenica massacre: key facts

The following are key facts about the July 1995 massacre of thousands of Muslim men and boys taken by Bosnian Serb troops from…

The following are key facts about the July 1995 massacre of thousands of Muslim men and boys taken by Bosnian Serb troops from the UN "safe area" of Srebrenica.

  • The exact number of victims is not known but UN prosecutors say between 7,000 and 8,000 people were killed. A Bosnian Serb government report put it at at least 7,779, while the Bosnian Muslim missing persons commission say it is more than 8,374.
  • 42 mass graves have already been exhumed by UN and Bosnian teams. Experts estimate there may be another 22 locations in the area around Srebrenica.
  • So far, 2,070 victims have been identified. More than 7,000 body bags with full or partial remains await identification through DNA matching with surviving relatives. Identification is hard: bodies were broken up by excavators that bulldozed them into mass graves. Bodies were also moved from the original graves to secondary locations to conceal the crime.
  • The UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague has charged 19 people in connection with the massacre. Six have been sentenced and 10 are being tried or are awaiting trial. Three are at large, including Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic who are charged with genocide for orchestrating the massacre.