Ramiz Nokic is lonely through the dense Bosnian forests, carrying plastic bags and simple tools, looking for something that most people do not see and do not want to see it.
He is looking for human remains, for scattered bones, for any trace that indicates the tragedy that occurred here more than 20 years ago in one of the ugliest massacres Genocide In Europe since World War II.
Nokic turned from a survivor of Serbenenetsa massacre In 1995 to one of the most insisting researchers on the remains of the victims of this tragedy, as his father and brothers lost in those dark days, and since then he has spent his life in searching not only for their remains, but about the remains of thousands of other victims whose families are still waiting for answers.
The episode (7/2025/10) of the “Al -Jazeera Films” series highlighted a humanitarian journey, during which Nokic searches for justice and continues on his daily trips through the areas that witnessed mass killing, looking for a live testimony to the tragedy and the human insistence on not forgetting.
Nokic grew up in the village of Kaminsa, and he knows every tree in these forests that have become a tragedy theater, and he says, referring to the surrounding areas: “I keep every tree of the forest trees, and even the entire region on the back of the heart.”
In July 1995, that region witnessed terrifying events when Serbrientesa fell into the hands of the Bosnian Serb forces, and men and youth fled through the forests in the hope of reaching safe areas, but most of them were killed in organized ambushes.
And Nokic recalls those days with the pain: “We were subjected to heavy shooting from all sides, and we did not know what is happening around us, and to this day I still hear the screaming of those around me.”
It took 6 years after the war ended until Nokic returned to his area, and he stood at the place where he was his home and was unable to identify him because of the density of the plants in it, and in 2001, the first skeleton was found near his house, and that was the beginning of a search journey that did not end until today.
He began his search for the remains of his father and his two brothers, but he quickly expanded his search to include any remains that could provide comfort to another family.
He explains his motives, “Just as I suffer from the loss of my father and my brother, so many people suffer to lose an individual or members of their family.”
Official efforts
The work of Nokic developed to become part of the official efforts to search for the missing, and it has become cooperating with the Institute of Missing Persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and with the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Operations of Extracting and Examining them.
When he finds any remains, he immediately calls the competent authorities that handle the necessary criminal and medical operations.
The developments in forensic techniques, especially DNA tests, constitute a new hope in determining the identity of the victims even if the remains are strongly decomposed, and despite the passage of more than two decades on the massacre, forensic teams are still able to determine the identities of the victims and return them to their families.
And every greatness that Nokic finds a human story, as he sometimes finds personal documents or family photos between the remains, and this adds a personal dimension influencing his work.
These discoveries remember him and the world remembers that these were not just numbers, but real people who have families, dreams and memories.
Despite his success in finding the remains of his father and brothers and burying them, Nokic continued his research, as he realized that there are hundreds of families still waiting, and that every bone found may mean closing a painful separation in a family’s life.
Statistics of the Institute of missing persons indicate that the remains of about 7,000 people out of more than 8,000 were killed in the massacre, which means that more than a thousand people are still missing, and this makes the task of people like Nokic more urgent.
Nokic continues on his daily flights through forests, and he is now 67 years old, and he realizes that the time is working against him, but he is determined to continue, because he sees that this is not just a work or a hobby, but a message of life and a promise to cut it on the dead and the neighborhood alike.
17/7/2025–|Last update: 18:42 (Mecca time)