Final Farewell: Srebrenica Massacre Victim’s Remains Discovered After 26 Years
(MENAFN) For almost three decades, Behija Rotic endured the agony of not knowing where her mother, Fata Bektic, had been laid to rest after she was killed by shellfire while seeking shelter during the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Now, on July 11, Behija will finally be able to bury her mother.
At 67 years old when she was killed, Bektic will be the sole woman interred at this year’s collective funeral at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, alongside thousands of victims from Europe’s deadliest atrocity since World War II.
Fata’s remains were discovered in a shallow grave during a 2021 exhumation—26 years after her death—and identified through DNA testing earlier this year.
Behija, 58, is the only surviving member of the Bektic family, having lost her father and two sisters in the genocide’s aftermath.
The painful path to closure
Fata Bektic was struck and killed instantly by a shell while fleeing toward the UN base in Potocari in July 1995, as thousands of Bosniaks sought sanctuary under the protection of United Nations forces. Due to illness, she was riding a horse at the time.
“During the entire war, we stayed in our village. But when Srebrenica fell, we left for Potocari like everyone else. She couldn’t walk, but we couldn’t leave her behind,” Behija recalled, her voice shaking as she relived the tragic moment of the explosion that took her mother’s life.
Behija’s husband, Remzo Rotic, explained how Behija’s father, Meho, was compelled by Serbian forces to bury his wife in a shallow grave near Potocari.
“They told him to be grateful they even allowed a burial,” he said. He added that Meho, a deeply religious man, was later robbed by soldiers but believed his faith and a secret stash of money preserved his life and those of his daughters.
Years later, the family returned to the burial site, placing a white stone as Meho had instructed, only to discover the grave was empty on later visits. DNA samples from the family ultimately led to the identification of Fata’s remains in January.
During the identification, Behija recognized her mother’s shoes—an emotional detail that ended years of uncertainty and brought a painful but vital form of closure.
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