The Srebrenica massacre occurred in July 1995 during the Bosnian War, when Bosnian Serb forces captured the town of Srebrenica, which had been declared a safe area by the United Nations. Over the course of several days, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were systematically killed, making it one of the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II. The massacre was part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Bosniak population. International courts later classified the events as genocide, leading to significant legal and political repercussions for those involved, including the arrest and trial of key military leaders like Ratko Mladić.