Bosnian Teenager’s Diary Captures Terror of Exodus from Srebrenica

Mirza Basic spent more than 20 days on the road, trying to reach safety after Bosnian Serb forces captured Srebrenica, and the 15-year-old's diary details his everyday struggle to survive and escape the fate of more than 7,000 other Bosniaks who were massacred in July 1995.

Basic told BIRN that he decided to write the diary because he realised that despite his efforts to escape, "there was still a possibility that we might not get through, that I might not survive". "I decided to write something about myself, at least the basic information from the fall [of Srebrenica]… and leave it somewhere, so if someone would find it one day, they would have traces of us," he said.

Ahead of the 27th anniversary commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide on Monday, Basic read through some of the entries in his 1995 diary for this audio feature - reliving his hopes for salvation and dreams of a peaceful future with his family.