# “Don’t lose any child” — then his army murdered 8,000

*World · 31 August 2026 · RECORDx NEWS*

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fej0toxZMLQ
Page: https://news.recordx.co/story/dont-lose-any-child-then-his-army-murdered-8-000/

Potočari, 12 July 1995. Ratko Mladić — commander of the Bosnian Serb army, which had just overrun the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica — stands among the women and tells them to look after their children. The English on screen is the tribunal's own translation, burned into the trial exhibit.
He promised them buses. The buses came. The women and small children were driven out, and every man and boy was pulled from the line by his soldiers.
Over the next five days they were shot — in a warehouse, on a farm, at a school. More than 8,000 men and boys. It is the worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War.
Then the graves were dug up and the bodies scattered to hide them, which is why one victim can be found in three places and fam
pieces. The memorial stone at Potočari counts 8,372, and carries the line UKUPAN BROJ ŽRTAVA KOJI NIJE KONAČAN — "total number of victims, which is not final."
In 2017 a court convicted Mladić of genocide for Srebrenica and sentenced him to life. His appeal was refused by the IRMCT on 8 June 2021 and the conviction stood. He died in a cell in The Hague on 27 August 2026, aged 84, still saying it never happened.
Pale, July 1995, via AP · AP Archive, Srebrenica July 1995 · AP Archive, exhumation of a mass grave, Bosnia · Reuters, Potočari, 11 July 2025 · IRMCT appeal judgement, 8 June 2021 · AFP, The Hague, 27 August 2026.

## Why this angle

This version inverts it. Srebrenica is the story; his death is the last line. The founder's own question — "what was the 8000 killed thing? shouldn't we throw some light on that?" — is the spine.

## The hook

"Be careful not to lose any child." He is telling these mothers to mind their children. Within days their sons and husbands were killed. We use his voice, his face, and the court's own translation — no narration over it. (Also in the same exhibit, unused: "Just don't panic and let the children and the women go first" and "Do not be afraid!.. Nobody will harm you." — both are two-line subtitles that the source clips at the bottom edge, so only the single-line cues are usable.)

## The turn

The buses he promised arrived. Women and small children were loaded on; the men and boys were pulled out of the line.

## The payoff

The memorial stone at Potočari reads 8372… with the ellipsis carved in, under the line UKUPAN BROJ ŽRTAVA KOJI NIJE KONAČAN — total number of victims, which is not final. Thirty years on they are still digging. Because the graves were opened and moved to hide them, one man can be found in three places, and families are still being handed back pieces. Only then: he died in a cell in The Hague, 84, still saying it never happened. And the stone still says the number is not final.

## Date traps caught

guAYNYwhaD8 is captioned "New exhumations of mass graves" and was UPLOADED 2015-07-21 — the sweep had called it "Zvornik 1998". Unverified either way, so the reel makes no year claim over it. 8372 is the total victim figure on the stone, not "names cut into it" — the names are on the memorial walls. v3 was re-recorded. CNN 1993 slug on an earlier candidate (rejected): cannot sit under a 1995 line.

## References

- https://youtube.com/shorts/lBFaFe8NO1o**

Reporting drawn from: ICTY trial exhibit, Prosecutor v. Mladić (courtesy IRMCT), Srpska TV

## Transcript

That is Ratko Mladic. He commands the army that has just taken Srebrenica. He is telling these mothers to look after their children and promising them buses.
The buses came. The women and small children were driven out. Every man and boy was pulled from the line, and Mladic's soldiers took them away.
Over the next five days, his men shot them, in a warehouse, on a farm, at a school. More than 8,000 men and boys. The worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War.
Then his men dug the graves up and scattered the bodies to hide them, so one victim can be found in three places. The stone at Potočari counts 8,372 and says even that is not final.
In 2017, a court convicted Mladić of genocide for it and jailed him for life. His appeal was refused in 2021.
He died in a cell in The Hague on Thursday, 84 years old, still saying it never happened.
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