Iconic Bosnian mother and campaigner against Srebrenica genocide dies

Hajra Catic, an iconic woman who dedicated her life to find the remains of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims killed in the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, has passed away.

Bosnian local media said Catic had died of heart problems in a Sarajevo hospital on Tuesday.

Catic lost 20 male relatives including her husband and son Nino Catic, the Srebrenica correspondent for several Bosnian newspapers and other media during the 1992-1995 war.

Her only remaining wish was to find the body of her son who disappeared on July 10, 1995, at the age of 26.

‘Fight for the truth should not cease’

Catic was one of the founders and head of the Women of Srebrenica association, which campaigns for maintaining public awareness of the 1995 genocide of Bosniaks.

"Hajra Catic died today without being able to attend the funeral of her son Nihad Nino Catic," the Srebrenica memorial centre said in a statement on Tuesday.

For 26 years "she kept the memory of the courage of this war reporter from Srebrenica, encouraging others that the fight for the truth and justice cannot and should not cease," it said.

The Serbs killed more than 8,000 men and boys in the following days and buried them in mass graves in the region.

Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his army chief Ratko Mladic were later sentenced to life by a UN war crimes court, notably for the genocide in Srebrenica.