SCOTLAND has held its first memorial for the 8,000 men and boys killed in the Srebrenica genocide 19 years ago.

The event, hosted by External Affairs Minister Humza Yousaf, was held at Bute House, Edinburgh, to mark the anniversary of the massacre in which thousands of Bosnian Muslims were killed by Serb forces.

The Rt Rev John Chalmers, moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, addressed the event. He said: "The massacre at Srebrenica in 1995 was a dreadful wrong made all the more disturbing in that it happened at the end of a century when we thought that such genocide would never happen again on European soil.

"The fact that this awful wrong was committed in the name of religion should never be forgotten and people of every religion should look deep within themselves for the true purpose of their faith, so that these things never happen again.

"It is right, therefore, that year after year we should hold such a remembrance, so that we do not repeat our inaction when such evils occur in other places."