The Hodzici Road 4 mass grave is one of seven mass graves found alongside the road between the village of Hodzic and the city of Zvornik in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

It was discovered in 1998 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, whose investigators determined that it is a secondary mass grave containing victims of 1995 genocide in Srebrenica.

So far, 71 individuals whose remains were found at the site have been identified. 

The grave is unmarked, and lies in a meadow between houses and farms in the village of Hodzic. 

At least 45 people whose remains were found in the grave died of gunshot wounds, and 34 had blindfolds. 

The ICTY’s analysis showed that Hodzici Road 4 is a secondary mass grave and the bodies found there can be linked with the primary mass grave Lazete 2.

Bosniak men who had been captured following the fall of Srebrenica were transported on July 14, 1995 to the Grbavci school in the village of Orahovac then killed and buried in fields known as Lazete. Forensic analysis of soil and pollen samples, evidence and aerial images of creation and disturbance dates further revealed that bodies from the Lazete 1 and Lazete 2 graves were later removed and reburied at secondary graves along the Hodzici Road.

So far, the ICTY and domestic courts in the Balkans have sentenced a total of 47 people to more than 700 years in prison, plus five life sentences, for Srebrenica crimes.

Zeleni Jadar is an area some 20 kilometres south of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia where at least seven clandestine gravesites have been found, all of them secondary mass graves. The site called Zeleni Jadar 4 (also known as Zeleni Jadar 8) was first examined in 1998 by a team from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY. The Bosnian Federal Commission on Missing Persons renamed the gravesite Zeleni Jadar 8 and exhumed it between September and October 2007. The remains of 64 individuals were discovered.

The area remains unmarked. The clandestine grave sites were scattered along both sides of a road, some of them deeper into a forest and some in fields.

Many of the body parts found in the graves in Zeleni Jadar matched remains found at the Glogova 1 and 2 gravesites. At all of the Zeleni Jadar graves – Zeleni Jadar 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 – links with the Glogova 1 primary grave were established through the identification of body parts belonging to the same individuals found in both the Glogova 1 grave and one of the secondary graves.

At the beginning of the excavation, forensic teams from the ICTY noted that most of the bodies found were incomplete, most had clothing but relatively few had personal possessions like watches, jewellery, smoking-related items and documents. 

According to the ICTY forensic report, most of the victims had gunshot wounds, while a few had injuries from explosions and explosive devices.

At Zeleni Jadar, seven gravesites can be linked to executions at a warehouse at a farm in Kravica, close to the town of Bratunac. On July 13 and 14, 1995, Bosnian Serb forces killed 1,313 Bosniaks at the farm. 

Remains of the victims of a separate mass shooting in a hangar behind the Vuk Karadzic school in Bratunac, where 400 Bosniaks were detained on July 13, 1995, were also found at Zeleni Jadar.

So far, the ICTY and domestic courts in the Balkans have sentenced a total of 47 people to more than 700 years in prison, plus five life sentences, for Srebrenica crimes.

Bljeceva 3 is a secondary mass grave and one of three gravesites discovered in the village of Bljeceva, some 11 kilometres from the town of Srebrenica. The site was exhumed in 2004 by the Bosnian Federal Commission on Missing Persons and the remains of 65 individuals were found. An investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, ICTY concluded that the remains belonged to Bosniaks from SRebrenica who were killed in July 1995. 

The gravesite is located between the main village road and a small mountain lane. It is a few metres away from the Bljeceva 1 and 2 mass graves. The gravesite remains unmarked, with the names of the victims listed on a house next to the Bljeceva 1 and 2 mass graves. 

An examination of the soil and the condition of the remains, which were almost entirely a mixture of body parts and skeletal elements, indicated that this was a secondary mass grave. 

The ICTY’s investigation decided that the Bljeceva 3 site was a secondary mass grave connected with primary mass graves in Glogova, and that the remains belonged mostly to the victims of a massacre of Bosniaks from Srebrenica in a farm warehouse in Kravica.

So far, the ICTY and domestic courts in the Balkans have sentenced a total of 47 people to more than 700 years in prison, plus five life sentences, for Srebrenica crimes.

Bljeceva 2 is a secondary mass grave located in the village of Bljeceva, some 11 kilometres from the town of Srebrenica. It is one of three gravesites discovered in this area. The site was exhumed in 2004 by the Bosnian Federal Commission on Missing Persons. DNA examination by the International Commission on Missing Persons showed that 81 people whose remains were found were Bosniaks reported missing from Srebrenica in July 1995.

The gravesite was discovered on a meadow, next to the small village road. It was approximately 30 metres long and two-and-a-half metres deep. Most of the forensic evidence found was personal belongings and documents.  

Items of particular interest included what could have been a Dutch newspaper article that was found in a bag. The print of the newspaper was well preserved and dated January 10, 1995. A bent road sign with the name of the village of Kravica was also found in the grave.

A large amount of food items were discovered, mainly pre-packed meals, as well as eating utensils.

An examination of the soil and the condition of the remains, which were almost entirely a mixture of body parts and skeletal elements, indicated that this was a secondary mass grave. 

The gravesite is marked with a memorial plaque and the names of the victims are listed on a house next to the gravesite.

An investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia concluded that the Bljeceva 2 gravesite was a secondary mass grave connected with primary mass graves in Glogova and that the remains belonged mostly to the victims of a massacre in a farm warehouse in Kravica.

So far, the ICTY and domestic courts in the Balkans have sentenced a total of 47 people to more than 700 years in prison, plus five life sentences, for Srebrenica crimes.

This secondary mass grave is located in the village of Вljeceva, some 11 kilometres from the town of Srebrenica. Three mass graves were discovered in the same area by the Bosnian Federal Commission on Missing Persons; all of them are secondary mass graves.

The gravesite was approximately 22 metres long, 4 metres in width and 4 metres in depth at the deepest end. The remains of 313 individuals were recovered from the grave, and approximately 80 of them were contained in black Yugoslav People’s Army body bags. All of the victims were wearing civilian clothing. 

An investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia concluded that Bljeceva 1 is a ‘mixed’ grave, meaning that it contained victims of the Srebrenica genocide and people who were murdered in 1992 in the town of Bratunac. Forty-seven of those who were identified were killed in July 1995, and more than 90 were killed in 1992, the ICTY said.

The remains that were found, DNA samples and other evidence, including soil and pollen samples, as well as shell casings in mass graves and at execution sites, proved the connection between this secondary grave and a primary mass grave at Glogova and secondary graves at Zeleni Jadar.

The gravesite is marked with a memorial plaque and the names of the victims are listed on a house next to the site. 

The International Commission on Missing Persons confirmed that some of the remains found in the Bljeceva mass grave were victims shot at a farm in Kravica, where on July 13, 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers executed 1,313 Bosniak men from Srebrenica. Automatic weapons, hand grenades, and other weapons were used to kill the men inside the warehouse.

So far, the ICTY and domestic courts in the Balkans have sentenced a total of 47 people to more than 700 years in prison, plus five life sentences, for Srebrenica crimes.

Liplje 3 is a secondary mass grave, located in the village of Liplje, eight kilometres south-west of the city of Zvornik. The site was exhumed between May and June 2005 by the Bosnian Federal Commission on Missing Persons, monitored by the International Commission on Missing Persons. The remains of 57 people were found.

DNA analysis showed connections between this secondary gravesite and a primary gravesite at Petkovci Dam. A forensics report by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY on Srebrenica exhumations said that this means that the remains of one individual were found in at least two different graves. The investigation also showed DNA connections between the site and two more gravesites in the same area. This indicates that remains that were dug up and removed from the primary mass grave at Petkovci Dam were transported to Liplje, 20 kilometres away. 

The gravesite is located on a meadow, next to the village road. It remains unmarked. 

On July 14, 1995, Bosnian Serb Army and police personnel transported approximately 1,000 Bosniak men from Srebrenica from detention sites in and around Bratunac to a school at Petkovci, ten kilometres from Zvornik. On July 14, 1995 and in the early morning hours of July 15, Bosnian Serb troops and police assaulted and shot men who were detained at the school.

Around July 14, 1995 and in the early morning hours of July 15, personnel from the Bosnian Serb Army’s Zvornik Brigade, including drivers and trucks from the Sixth Infantry Battalion, transported the surviving Bosniak men from the school at Petkovci to an area below the Petkovci Dam. They were then summarily executed by Bosnian Serb Army soldiers and police with automatic weapons. In the morning of July 15, personnel from the Zvornik Brigade’s Engineering Company, working with other individuals and units, used excavators and other heavy equipment to bury the victims while the executions continued.

A man who hid beneath dead bodies to avoid execution at the dam told the trial of former Bosnian Serb Army general Ratko Mladic at the ICTY that when he was brought to Petkovci, the field under the dam was “already covered in bodies”. The witness, who testified under the codename RM-253, said he dropped to the ground as soon as soldiers opened fire on his group and hid his head underneath the legs of some prisoners who were already dead, hoping to survive.

While RM-253 and another survivor were hiding, they saw “a truck which was collecting bodies and loading them onto a tractor, which then transported them away from the killing field”. 

So far, the ICTY and domestic courts in the Balkans have sentenced a total of 47 people to more than 700 years in prison, plus five life sentences, for Srebrenica crimes. 

Hodzici Road 6 (also known as Snagovo 1) is one of the seven secondary mass graves of Srebrenica genocide victims located in the village of Hodzici, some 17 kilometres north-west of the city of Zvornik. The remains of a total of 70 individuals have been exhumed there.

The Hodzici Road 6 site was exhumed in 2004 by the Bosnian Federal Commission on Missing Persons, monitored by the International Commission on Missing Persons, ICMP. The gravesite remains unmarked, on a meadow behind the village houses and next to a line of pine trees.

DNA analysis carried out by the ICMP showed connections between this secondary gravesite and the Lazete 2 primary gravesite (also known as Orahovac 2). According to the ICTY’s forensic report on Srebrenica exhumations, this means that the remains of one individual were found in at least two different graves. The investigation showed that 12 DNA connection cases were between Lazete 2 and Hodzici Road 6. This indicates that human remains were dug up at the Lazete 2 primary mass grave and transferred to Hodzici Road, some 10 kilometres away. 

Forensic analysis of soil/pollen samples, evidence and aerial images of creation/disturbance dates, further revealed that bodies from the primary mass graves Lazete 1 and Lazete 2 were dug up and reburied at secondary graves in Hodzici.  

ICTY verdicts found that captured Bosniak men from Srebrenica were transported on July 14, 1995 to a school in the village of Orahovac. In the early afternoon, Bosnian Serb Army Zvornik Brigade personnel under the supervision of Drago Nikolic,a security officer with the Bosnian Serb Army’s Zvornik Brigade, and Milorad Trbic, Assistant Commander for Security with the Zvornik Brigade, then transported the captives to a nearby field, where personnel, including members of the 4th Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade, executed them with automatic weapons.

In related verdicts, the ICTY found Radislav Krstic, the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Drina Corps, guilty of genocide against Bosniaks from Srebrenica – its first verdict establishing that the Srebrenica masacres constituted genocide. Krstic was sentenced to 46 years in prison, although the sentence was subsequently shortened to 35 years.

The ICTY also found that Ljubisa Beara, the chief of security of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Main Staff, was told to organise, coordinate and facilitate the detention, transportation, summary execution and burial of the Bosniak victims murdered at Orahovac. Beara was assisted by, among others, Vujadin Popovic, Chief of Security of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Drina Corps, as well as Nikolic and Trbic. 

Beara, Popovic, Nikolic and Trbic were found to have supervised, facilitated and overseen the Orahovac executions, and the ICTY convicted them of genocide. Vidoje Blagojevic, commander of the Bratunac Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for aiding and abetting the murder and persecution of Bosniaks in the Srebrenica area, as well as aiding and abetting the murder of Bosniaks in Bratunac. Dragan Jokic, chief of engineering of the Zvornik Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, was sentenced to nine years in prison for the murders of Bosniaks in Orahovac, at the Branjevo Military Farm in Pilica and in Kozluk, and for providing engineering resources and personnel to dig mass graves for the executed victims.

According to the Federal Institute for Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the remains of 818 Bosniaks from Srebrenica were discovered at seven secondary gravesites on Hodzici Road.

Hodzici Road 5 is a secondary mass grave, located in the village of Hodzici, some 17 kilometres north-west of the city of Zvornik. There are seven known mass graves in the area, all secondary sites. A total of 55 human remains have been exhumed in the yard of one of the local houses. 

Hodzici Road 5 site was exhumed in 1998 by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY along with the Hodzici Road 3 and 4 sites.

DNA analysis carried out by the International Commission on Missing Persons showed connections between this secondary gravesite and the Lazete 1 primary gravesite (also known as Orahovac 1). According to the ICTY’s forensic report on Srebrenica exhumations, this means that remains of one individual were found in at least two different graves. The ICTY’s investigation showed that there were 12 DNA connections between Lazete 1 and Hodzici Road 5. This indicates that human remains were dug up at the Lazete 1 primary mass grave and transferred to Hodzici Road, some 10 kilometres away. 

Forensic analysis of soil/pollen samples, evidence and aerial images of creation/disturbance dates, further revealed that bodies from the Lazete 1 and Lazete 2 primary mass graves were dug up and reburied at secondary graves in Hodzici.  

The Hodzici Road gravesite remains unmarked, in the private yard of one of the village houses. 

ICTY verdicts found that captured Bosniak men from Srebrenica were transported on July 14, 1995 to a school in the village of Orahovac. In the early afternoon, Bosnian Serb Army Zvornik Brigade personnel under the supervision of Drago Nikolic,a security officer with the Bosnian Serb Army’s Zvornik Brigade, and Milorad Trbic, Assistant Commander for Security with the Zvornik Brigade, then transported the captives to a nearby field, where personnel, including members of the 4th Battalion of the Zvornik Brigade, executed them with automatic weapons.

In related verdicts, the ICTY found Radislav Krstic, the Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Drina Corps, guilty of genocide against Bosniaks from Srebrenica – its first verdict establishing that the Srebrenica masacres constituted genocide. Krstic was sentenced to 46 years in prison, although the sentence was subsequently shortened to 35 years.

The ICTY also found that Ljubisa Beara, the chief of security of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Main Staff, was told to organise, coordinate and facilitate the detention, transportation, summary execution and burial of the Bosniak victims murdered at Orahovac. Beara was assisted by, among others, commander Vujadin Popovic, Chief of Security of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Drina Corps, as well as Nikolic and Trbic. 

Beara, Popovic, Nikolic and Trbic were found to have supervised, facilitated and overseen the Orahovac executions, and the ICTY convicted them of genocide. Vidoje Blagojevic, commander of the Bratunac Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for aiding and abetting the murder and persecution of Bosniaks in the Srebrenica area, as well as aiding and abetting the murder of Bosniaks in Bratunac. Dragan Jokic, chief of engineering of the Zvornik Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, was sentenced to nine years in prison for the murders of Bosniaks in Orahovac, at the Branjevo Military Farm in Pilica and in Kozluk, and for providing engineering resources and personnel to dig mass graves for the executed victims.

According to the Federal Institute for Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the remains of 818 Bosniaks from Srebrenica were discovered at seven secondary gravesites on Hodzici Road.

The Budak 2 mass grave is located in the village of Potocari, six kilometres north-west of the town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and near the Budak 1 gravesite. The grave was exhumed in June and July 2007 by the Bosnian Federal Commission on Missing Persons, monitored by the International Commission on Missing Persons. During the exhumation, the remains of 49 people were found, most of whom were victims of the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995.

Budak 2 is a secondary mass grave, one of many in the Potocari area. Based on DNA samples taken from the remains, soil and pollen samples, as well as shell casings collected in mass graves and at execution sites, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY established the connection between this secondary grave and the primary mass grave Glogova 1, located 10.5 kilometres away.

Glogova 1 initially contained many more remains, but in a subsequent cover-up operation by Bosnian Serb forces in the autumn of 1995, bodies were transported from there to other burial locations, including Budak 1, according to the Bosnian Missing Persons Institute. The operation to conceal the crimes was described by the ICTY as “an organised and comprehensive effort… to hide the executions by exhuming the bodies from primary mass graves and reburying them in secondary graves”.

The ICTY established that the secondary mass graves in the Potocari area are not only linked to the primary mass graves, but are also interlinked at various levels. In the case of the Budak 2 gravesite, the remains of several individuals found there were also found in other graves besides the primary site at Glogova 1: at Zeleni Jadar 4, Zeleni Jadar 5 and Zeleni Jadar 6. Some of the victims whose remains were initially buried at Glogova 1, and then dug up by Bosnian Serb forces and reburied at Budak 1 as part of an attempted cover-up, were reburied yet again at Budak 2.

Most of the remains found in the Budak 2 mass grave were victims who were shot at a farm in Kravica, where on July 13, 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers executed 1,313 Bosniak men from Srebrenica. Automatic weapons, hand grenades, and other weapons were used to kill the men inside the warehouse.

Today, the Budak 2 mass grave, on a meadow by a road, is unmarked. In 2011, a few dozen metres away from the Budak 1 and Budak 2 gravesites, local Serbs started building an Orthodox church. This created tensions with the local Bosniak population, but the church was built and consecrated three years later.

So far, the ICTY and domestic courts in the Balkans have sentenced a total of 47 people to more than 700 years in prison, plus five life sentences, for Srebrenica crimes.

The Budak 1 mass grave is located in the village of Potocari, six kilometres north-west of the town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia. The grave was exhumed in July 2005 by the Bosnian Federal Commission on Missing Persons, monitored by the International Commission on Missing Persons. 

This secondary mass grave is located within an existing Muslim graveyard in Potocari. The exhumation yielded the remains of 54 people, most of them killed during the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995. 

The remains that were found, DNA samples and other evidence, including soil and pollen samples, as well as shell casings in mass graves and at execution sites, proved the connection between this secondary grave and the primary mass grave Glogova 1.

Glogova 1 initially contained many more remains, but in a subsequent cover-up operation by Bosnian Serb forces in the autumn of 1995, bodies were transported from there to other burial locations, including Budak 1, according to the Bosnian Missing Persons Institute. The operation to conceal the crimes was described by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY as “an organised and comprehensive effort… to hide the executions by exhuming the bodies from primary mass graves and reburying them in secondary graves”.

Based on DNA connections, the ICTY established that the secondary mass graves in the Potocari area are not only linked to the primary mass graves, but are also interlinked at various levels. In the case of the Budak 1 gravesite, the remains of several individuals found there were also found in other graves besides the primary site at Glogova 1: Budak 2, Zeleni Jadar 4, Zeleni Jadar 5 and Zeleni Jadar 6.

ICTY forensic teams also established that some of the remains found in the Budak 1 mass grave were victims who were shot at a farm in Kravica, where on July 13, 1995, Bosnian Serb soldiers executed 1,313 Bosniak men from Srebrenica. Automatic weapons, hand grenades, and other weapons were used to kill the men inside the warehouse.

Today, there is still a Muslim cemetery at the Budak 1 location, as well as a memorial plaque in honour of the victims found in the mass grave. In 2011, a few dozen metres away from the Budak 1 and Budak 2 gravesites, local Serbs started building an Orthodox church. This created tensions with the local Bosniak population, but the church was built and consecrated three years later.

So far, the ICTY and domestic courts in the Balkans have sentenced a total of 47 people to more than 700 years in prison, plus five life sentences, for Srebrenica crimes.