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Mourners at the Srebrenica memorial on Monday. Photo: Anadolu.

Thousands of mourners gathered on Monday at the genocide memorial in the village of Potocari near Srebrenica to commemorate the victims killed by Bosnian Serb forces after the fall of the UN ‘safe zone’ to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.

Buses brought mourners from all over the country for the 21st anniversary commemoration of the massacres of more than Bosniak 7,000 men and boys.

Flowers will be laid for the victims and there will be Muslim prayers for 127 more victims whose remains are being buried at the memorial site this year.

The Bosnian Council of Ministers has declared July 11 as a day of mourning in the entire country and flags at state-level institutions have been lowered to half-mast.

The mayor of Srebrenica, Camil Durakovic, and Theodor Meron, the president of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, which has taken over the work of the UN war crimes court in The Hague, will address guests at a special commemoration at the memorial.

The annual commemoration has again been tinged with controversy after the organising committee, headed by Durakovic, said that Serbian political leaders who denied that the mass killings were genocide would not be invited to attend.

Last year the 20th anniversary commemorations were marred when Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was pelted with bottles and stones by angry mourners.

Serbia admits that the Srebrenica massacres were a crime, but does not define them as genocide, despite the rulings of international courts.

Hajra Catic, a genocide survivor who returned to live in Srebrenica after the war, told BIRN that she hoped the commemoration would go off peacefully this year.

“Whenever July 11 approaches, we find it hard to cope, because we go through what happened on that day. It is difficult. You go back to the past and remember all the things that happened – especially us, the mothers who have not found their children,” Catic said.

Bosnian state prosecution spokesperson Boris Grubesic said that an investigation aimed at identifying Vucic’s attackers was still open.

“The investigation is underway. The special prosecution of [Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity] Republika Srpska referred a case to us recently. Once the cases have been merged, a detailed analysis will be conducted. After that a decision about the future activities that are necessary will be made with the aim of rendering a prosecutorial decision in that case,” Grubesic said.