Today, 31 years after a genocide committed in Srebrenica, the mortal remains of Muriz Baraković will find their final rest at the Potočari Memorial Center. His son Almir waited his whole life for a day when he will be able to recite Al-Fatiha at his grave, but Muriz will be laid to rest with only three found bones in three mass graves.
Muriz Baraković was murdered in July, 1995, as a 22-year old, while his mortal remains were found in as many as three mass graves on the territories of Budak and Zeleni Jadar, which once again testifies to the scale of the crime and systematic relocation of the bodies of genocide victims to conceal the evidence.
“My father is found in three mass graves on the territories of Budak and Zeleni Jadar. Of his remains, we found a head, a lower leg, and an arm,” said Almir Baraković, whose words carry the weight of three decades of waiting.
For him, his father is not a memory, but an emptiness he grew up with.
“I don’t remember him as I was seven months old when he was murdered. It is very difficult. We waited 31 years for the day when we would lay him to rest and know where his grave is,” Almir said.
During his growing-up he didn’t have an opportunity to know the father’s hug, hear his voice, or share the most important moments in his life with him. Instead of memories, he was left with questions and a pain he has carried since early childhood.
“Growing up without him was difficult, but life just had to go on. I don’t have a single photograph of him. Life was hard. I grew up the best way I knew how,” Almir says emotionally.
“Today, as he lowers his father’s remains into the grave at the Memorial Center in Potočari, a search that lasted for over three decades will finally come to an end.
Still, the family will not have the man they lost returned to them, but only a few bones found in different mass graves.
The fate of Muriz Baraković is one of thousands that even today bear witness to the brutality of the genocide committed against Bosniaks in Srebrenica in July, 1995.
To his son Almir, this day brings tranquility to one part of his heart, as he will finally know where his father rests, but also never-ending pain, because no amount of waiting could ever make up for the life they should have shared together, Klix.ba writes.
