Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Monday sent his condolences to the Mothers of Srebrenica civil society organisation on the occasion of the death of the organisation's leader, Hatidza Mehmedovic.

He said Mehmedovic is a symbol of Srebrenica mothers and women who dedicated her life in looking for the truth and a just punishment for the perpetrators of the Srebrenica atrocity.

“It is with regret that I received news of Hatidza Mehmedovic’s death, a symbol of Srebrenica mothers and women who, losing her sons, husband and many members of her extended family in the cruel execution committed that sorrowful Bosnian July in 1995, dedicated her entire life to consistently searching for the truth and a just punishment for the perpetrators of that unprecedented crime,” Plenkovic wrote.

She tirelessly and courageously stood for each of the 8,372 Srebrenica men, boys and women whose lives were savagely taken away in the genocidal slaughter and to the end spoke on behalf of their mothers, wives, daughters, he added.

May her mother’s sorrow, pain and wisdom be a message to everyone in these regions: Never again!, he said.

“On behalf of the Croatian people, the government of Croatia and on my own behalf, I express my deepest and sincerest condolences,” Plenkovic’s message to the Mothers of Srebrenica organisation read.

Bosnia’s Presidency Chairman Bakir Izetbegovic also expressed his condolences over Mehmedovic’s death, saying:

“I was deeply touched by the news of the death of Hatidza Mehmedovic, a mother, a heroine, a peace activist, a prominent fighter for the truth and justice for genocide in Srebrenica. With her moving to a better world, we were left without yet another symbol of the suffering of Bosniaks, a symbol of courage, persistence and dignity of a Bosnian woman. She devoted her life to search for her dear ones and their dignified burial, but also to fight that the genocide and crimes that were committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina never happen to anyone, again,” Izetbegovic said in his condolences.

Mehmedovic, who became a symbol of the struggle to keep the memory of the victims of genocide committed against Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995 passed away on Sunday night in Sarajevo Hospital where she was being treated for a grave illness.

The Islamic community in Srebrenica confirmed the news of her death on Monday.

Several members of her family were killed in the genocide. Being displaced herself, Mehmedovic nevertheless returned to Srebrenica in 2003 and since then continued to present the truth about the crime committed.

She, in particular, underscored the need to confront the policy that led to the genocide and warned that the current authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska Serb entity were attempting to implement policies introduced by Bosnian Serb war crimes indictees Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

Mehmedovic is also known because she thought fondly of Croatia’s President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic who, she said, understood a lot that others didn’t because she was a woman and a mother.

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