Seven people, including commanders and members of the Zvornik Brigade of the former army of Republika Srpska, have been arrested on suspicion of war crimes during the genocide committed by Bosnian Serbs against thousands of Muslim men in Srebrenica in 1995, in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, announced Bosniak officials on Friday.

The suspects were arrested by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) near Zvornik, said the agency without disclosing the date of their capture.

SIPA emphasized that the arrested individuals will be handed over to the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina after additional investigations.

The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to Radio Free Europe that among the suspects are commanders of the former Zvornik Brigade.

Bosnian Serb forces killed over 8,300 mainly Bosniak men and boys in and around Srebrenica in July 1995 after Dutch UN peacekeepers failed to protect an UN-designated “safe area”.

Authorities stated that the seven individuals arrested are suspected of killing around 800 Bosniaks near Orahovac, as this area was captured by the army of Republika Srpska.

The former International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice have classified this tragedy as genocide.

More than 50 people have been sentenced to prison for genocide and other crimes in Srebrenica.

The remains of the victims have been exhumed from over 80 mass graves in Srebrenica and the nearby areas of Zvornik and Bratunac.

Radovan Karadžić, the first president of Republika Srpska, the mainly Serb entity that, along with the Bosniak-Croat Federation, forms Bosnia, was sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide and other crimes, including in Srebrenica.

He is serving the sentence in a British prison.

The commander of the former army of Republika Srpska at that time, Ratko Mladić, is also serving a life sentence for genocide.