0:00:00 > 0:00:04may find distressing.
0:00:17 > 0:00:27HAUNTING MUSIC THROUGHOUT.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32We didn't believe that we would be killed because there are so many
0:00:32 > 0:00:37people and I couldn't believe they could kill all of us.Srebrenica,
0:00:37 > 0:00:41the setting for Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two.
0:00:41 > 0:00:54Gunfire.In July 1995, Bosnian Serbs soldiers are sick of thousands of
0:00:54 > 0:01:00unarmed Muslim men and boys here. -- massacred. A small number of
0:01:00 > 0:01:09survivors have since returned.I had nightmares. And I didn't... Ever get
0:01:09 > 0:01:16rid off. Returning here and is living here maybe it is therapy for
0:01:16 > 0:01:21me.But the genocide verdicts of the International Court are being
0:01:21 > 0:01:25questioned by local politicians and the town's new mayor, even here in
0:01:25 > 0:01:28the very place where ethnic cleansing happened.Inflation
0:01:34 > 0:01:40-- the genocide didn't happen, that his officials.This man now finds
0:01:40 > 0:01:44his incredible story of survival of his community's re- identity, a
0:01:44 > 0:01:52matter of dispute.Almost 20 years I was violent. Later, I realised that
0:01:52 > 0:01:56we have to struggle for the truth, for our lives.
0:02:05 > 0:02:11He returned to Srebrenica ten years ago. He and his wife are bringing up
0:02:11 > 0:02:17their three daughters here. It is the Serb run entity within
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Bosnia-Herzegovina that was formally recognised after the war but with
0:02:20 > 0:02:26some Bosnian Muslims or Bosnia Acts believed entrenched Muslim cleansing
0:02:26 > 0:02:33-- ethnic cleansing. He is one of only six men and boys who survived
0:02:33 > 0:02:38being rounded up, taken to mass execution sites, and shot in July
0:02:38 > 0:02:481995, 8000 did not.I had something inside me to come here, to show them
0:02:48 > 0:02:59that I survived. Maybe it is the best answer to all of those who
0:02:59 > 0:03:07denied the genocide and it is a revenge.His decision to live here
0:03:07 > 0:03:13is cathartic and political. Aimed at those who wanted Muslims are raised
0:03:13 > 0:03:17from here. He says it is increasingly difficult.Life here is
0:03:17 > 0:03:26not easy. Today we fight for justice. It isn't finished. Without
0:03:26 > 0:03:35justice, there is no reconciliation. It is an illusion. I am worried
0:03:35 > 0:03:40because of this course and everywhere you have propaganda and
0:03:40 > 0:03:45because of that my wife just wants to leave Srebrenica.There are
0:03:45 > 0:03:51different realities here, many Bosnian Serbs see men deemed Walker
0:03:51 > 0:03:55and also as he arose when the political second in command from the
0:03:55 > 0:04:02war days was released from prison, he was fated. One person's
0:04:02 > 0:04:07nationalism is another's rightful pride in the country and with
0:04:07 > 0:04:11international eyes focused elsewhere, Bosnians fear the tide is
0:04:11 > 0:04:15turning. In a recent referendum, Bosnian Serbs voted overwhelmingly
0:04:15 > 0:04:19for the annual National Day, which the country's court had ruled
0:04:19 > 0:04:24illegal, and Bosnian Serb politicians from the President down
0:04:24 > 0:04:28don't accept international court verdicts concerning Srebrenica.
0:05:01 > 0:05:0622 years ago, Srebrenica was a place of fear. With Bosnian Serbs, Croats
0:05:06 > 0:05:11and Muslims killing each other across the region, the UN had
0:05:11 > 0:05:15declared the town of safe haven back in 1993 and thousands of Bosnian
0:05:15 > 0:05:25civilians flocked there. In among them young men. The siege by the
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Bosnian Serbs, abandoned by the UN in July 19 99. Agreeing to transport
0:05:29 > 0:05:35the refugees to safety, Bosnian Serb forces captured the town. The woman
0:05:35 > 0:05:39and her mother with the other women and children and were bussed out,
0:05:39 > 0:05:43the Bosnian Serb planned to kill the Muslim men and boys was under way.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Have you watched those pictures, to your room but the feeling?Yes.
0:05:57 > 0:06:07Everything. It is... Painful to remember this. But it is part of
0:06:07 > 0:06:10life. Passed. Our past.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20The head of the killings, the leader of the Bosnian Serb forces general
0:06:20 > 0:06:25Ratko Mladic had a great play of promising civilians safe passage. He
0:06:25 > 0:06:30is now facing genocide charges at his trial in The Hague.
0:06:48 > 0:06:55The killing of Srebrenica's Muslims has been judged genocide by the war
0:06:55 > 0:06:59crimes tribunal in The Hague. The UN definition is the intent to destroy
0:06:59 > 0:07:02a group of people raced on nationality, race, ethnicity or
0:07:02 > 0:07:09religion.It was systematic killing, organised killing, and it was
0:07:09 > 0:07:14organised by, from a higher level, to achieve all of that you need so
0:07:14 > 0:07:24many resources, so many trucks, so many buses, so many et cetera.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35The scars of war are still evident in Srebrenica today. This was
0:07:35 > 0:07:40probably Muslim town but many who survived those times chose not to
0:07:40 > 0:07:44come back to a place international community had agreed would be part
0:07:44 > 0:07:53of the Bosnian Serb entity. There is a feeling of emptiness, of once
0:07:53 > 0:07:57thriving industries that never recovered. Economically depressed,
0:07:57 > 0:08:02life here is hard, any geek out a living in a way that has changed
0:08:02 > 0:08:06little over centuries. Last year, the town collected a new mayor who
0:08:06 > 0:08:11has promised economic development. It is the first time as Serb has
0:08:11 > 0:08:15filled the role since the war. His views on the Srebrenica massacre
0:08:15 > 0:08:21have caused alarm among Srebrenica who have returned.For me it isn't a
0:08:21 > 0:08:25problem to have a mayor who is a Serb, it is no problem, we are
0:08:25 > 0:08:33looking for more tolerance. He is a guy who denies all past, denies the
0:08:33 > 0:08:35genocide.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44The Balkans have always been a powderkeg and is now the agreements
0:08:44 > 0:08:47that brought about the end of the war are looking ever more fragile.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52There is increasing talk of them breaking away from the rest of
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Bosnia which would leave the entities Bosnian Muslims living in a
0:08:56 > 0:09:02potentially hostile country. The republic's resident unveiled a
0:09:02 > 0:09:07university dormitory in honour of the former president just a few days
0:09:07 > 0:09:12before The Hague war crimes in a reform found him guilty of genocide.
0:09:12 > 0:09:18The mayor of the city is from the same party as him. Do you believe he
0:09:18 > 0:09:23is a hero?
0:09:43 > 0:09:47Do you accept the judgement of the International Court that genocide
0:09:47 > 0:09:48happened in Srebrenica?
0:10:30 > 0:10:35He took a journey he did back in 1995 then as a prisoner, crammed
0:10:35 > 0:10:41into a truck with dozens of others, their hands tied behind their backs.
0:10:41 > 0:10:48That is the place where the mass execution took place. It was night
0:10:48 > 0:10:52and they were shooting and firing outside. You could see the lines,
0:10:52 > 0:10:58rows and rows of dead waddies. I knew it was the end, really, in that
0:10:58 > 0:11:07moment. They asked us to lay down and it is thought of my mother, she
0:11:07 > 0:11:18would never know where I ended up. How I finished. Then they started
0:11:18 > 0:11:27firing and I was dying. I could just hear moans. Moans of other people
0:11:27 > 0:11:40who were wounded. It was so painful. I just prayed not to die. And then I
0:11:40 > 0:11:50noticed someone was moving in front of me. That cost him are you alive?
0:11:50 > 0:11:59He said yes, I am alive. That's enough. I can show you something
0:11:59 > 0:12:08else. Maybe security could come.We get asked a lot of him, the horror
0:12:08 > 0:12:12playing out in his head as he described escaping with the other
0:12:12 > 0:12:18survive. While the soldiers went to collect more prisoners to kill.I
0:12:18 > 0:12:24was crawling, crawling over the dead bodies. The Broken Head is, it
0:12:24 > 0:12:27was...
0:12:35 > 0:12:40He was badly wounded and in terrible pain. The other man encouraged the
0:12:40 > 0:12:45teenager to keep crawling. As day broke and they climbed through the
0:12:45 > 0:12:50forest, the full-scale and planning behind the massacre became apparent.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53They were collecting the dead bodies and they would put that on the
0:12:53 > 0:13:01trucks, the trucks, don't you remember now, and the tractors were
0:13:01 > 0:13:05going somewhere, I don't remember where, probably to mass graves.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09After the war, the international effort to find and identify the
0:13:09 > 0:13:14missing thousands began. Among the dead, his father and uncle.I know
0:13:14 > 0:13:22from my uncle that his remains were found in four mass graves. They
0:13:22 > 0:13:32wanted to hide it and excavated them and rebury them again. Because they
0:13:32 > 0:13:37were dead they broke their bodies.I wondered whether people living
0:13:37 > 0:13:44around the site now would know what happened there.Many of them
0:13:44 > 0:13:50probably, the talk, they don't want anything about it. Why not? They
0:13:50 > 0:13:56have fear of their lives.If they talked about what happened here?
0:13:56 > 0:14:03Yep, of course.Fear of their lives from true?From those who committed
0:14:03 > 0:14:12the crime and who, who supported the crime and who approved the crime.Do
0:14:12 > 0:14:17some of them still live around here? Yes, of course.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28Each gravestone in the vast oral to the genocide victims has the same
0:14:28 > 0:14:36year of death, 1995. It has been painstakingly slow. Every year on
0:14:36 > 0:14:40the July anniversary, more people are buried. Sometimes a bone
0:14:40 > 0:14:45fragment is all that is identified. The international court in The Hague
0:14:45 > 0:14:59has said six are guilty. One is awaiting judgement. Silia testified
0:14:59 > 0:15:10against him and others. In a grave, many of her family lie at rest.
0:16:06 > 0:16:15A few miles from Srebrenica, as the primary school day begins, it has
0:16:15 > 0:16:24become politicised. These children are being educated separately from
0:16:24 > 0:16:27their peers. Their parents set up up their own Islamic school. They
0:16:27 > 0:16:32claimed they were forced to do so because in subjects from history to
0:16:32 > 0:16:35geography to literature, even what the language is called, their
0:16:35 > 0:16:39heritage was being excluded.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01Do you believe that this is a deliberate decision by the
0:17:01 > 0:17:06politicians, the people, the officials running the education
0:17:06 > 0:17:09system, to make you feel unwelcome?
0:17:21 > 0:17:26This man's daughters are still too young for these issues to apply. But
0:17:26 > 0:17:32with politicians ramping up the rhetoric against their rivals, he
0:17:32 > 0:17:37worries what they will be caught in future if they stay in the Republic.
0:17:37 > 0:17:45Srebrenica's municipal assembly now has more Serb councillors than
0:17:45 > 0:17:51Muslim. In the opposition, a Serb who has been in politics since the
0:17:51 > 0:17:56war days. He is the local president, and also the town's secretary
0:17:56 > 0:18:02councillor. If people would recognise and called it a genocide,
0:18:02 > 0:18:07reconciliation could happen. Because that is not happening, it is
0:18:07 > 0:18:12impossible. Do you think it was a genocide? And what do you think
0:18:12 > 0:18:19about that viewpoint?
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Blaming international meddling for the possible breakup of
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Bosnia-Herzegovina is tried and tested political discourse here. The
0:18:57 > 0:19:04president regularly threatens a referendum on secession. Would you
0:19:04 > 0:19:11like to see the republic move away?
0:19:32 > 0:19:39Before the war Serbs made up just half the population. Now, the
0:19:39 > 0:19:57republic is 80% Serb. After the war, efforts were made. They live in a
0:19:57 > 0:20:01block for people with special needs. She would like to leave.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27Nadzad's surviving family never understood
0:20:27 > 0:20:29his need to go back and live in Srebenica.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I remember the words of my mother as well.
0:20:32 > 0:20:46You want to go to Srebenica?
0:20:46 > 0:20:48If you leave, who will be the winner?
0:20:48 > 0:20:49In that case, I think...
0:20:49 > 0:20:50In that case, the genocide would fade off.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Those who committed such horror, they would win.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00Nedzad believes the scale of the crimes cannot be compared.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But Serbs also lost their lives in the war and there are memorials
0:21:04 > 0:21:21to the 3,000 Serb soldiers and civilians
0:21:21 > 0:21:22killed across this area over three years.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Most people we spoke to - whether Serb or Bosniak -
0:21:25 > 0:21:29were keen to try to forget the past and look to the future.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32But, for 22 years, Nedzad has lived with a burden.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38The memory of the 8000 souls who didn't have his luck.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40The burden of being a survivor of genocide.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43If we had a normal country, I can say that
0:21:43 > 0:21:46hatred, that nationalistic conversation, can take us to the war
0:21:46 > 0:22:01and the killing.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Very often, I ask myself where we are going now because I fear very
0:22:04 > 0:22:05bad things in Europe.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07Nedzad's man concern is closer to home.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Those who had their hands bloody, if they come one day and ask for
0:22:11 > 0:22:13forgiveness, I think it wouldn't be a problem for us...
0:22:14 > 0:22:28To extend our hands.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29To extend our hands.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31Do you think they ever will?
0:22:33 > 0:22:36True reconciliation looks perhaps almost as far off as ever,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39particularly with genocide being denied in the very place where it's
0:22:39 > 0:22:40judged to have happened.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44In the end, only the living can have a say on whether a country
0:22:44 > 0:23:06built on bloodshed will truly wash away the emnities of war.