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Tribunal Finds 154 Srebrenica Victims at Cerska Mass Grave
Identification will take months, and in some cases may be impossible, he said. Remains that are identified will be returned to families for burial.
The team began digging at the site, 17 miles northwest of Srebrenica in Bosnian Serb-held territory, on July 8. As members lifted bodies from the grave, more were found underneath.
Investigators suspect the remains are those of Muslim civilians who were executed after Bosnian Serb forces overran the U.N.-protected enclave of Srebrenica last July. Some 7,000 Muslim men vanished from Srebrenica and are feared dead. The skeletons will be taken to Tuzla where experts will determine how they died and attempt to identify them, forensic anthropologist William D. Haglund, the team leader, said Friday.
Identification will take months, and in some cases may be impossible, he said. Remains that are identified will be returned to families for burial.
All 154 corpses were found with civilian clothing largely intact. Evidence at the scene suggests the victims were lined up atop an embankment and shot, many with their hands bound behind their backs, Haglund said. The exhumation was conducted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal, which has indicted Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic for allegedly orchestrating widespread massacres during Bosnia’s 3˝-year war.
The team planned next to begin exhuming suspected mass grave sites near Nova Kasaba, a town close to Srebrenica. U.S. satellite photographs indicate the sites may hold up to 2,700 corpses.
Two men identifying themselves as Bosnian Serb plainclothes police arrived at the grave site near Srebrenica on Friday. One of them, Mile Pajic, said the remains were those of Muslim soldiers who had fled Srebrenica -- not civilians. "These are soldiers who put on civilian clothing and then remained in the woods," Pajic said.
During the war it was common for all sides to treat all men between 18 and 60 as potential soldiers and restrict their movement. |
CERSKA, July 20 (AP) - When investigators from the U.N. war crimes tribunal finished their first exhumation of a mass grave site, they had 154 skeletons -- three times more than expected.
Berserkistan, July 18 · Bosnian Serb Official Confronts the Dead at Cerska
Berserkistan, July 16 · 86 Bodies Excavated from Srebrenica Mass Grave at Cerska
Berserkistan, July 12 · Cerska Victims Not Killed in Battle Say Investigators
Berserkistan, July 12 · NATO and Bosnian Serbs Blamed for Failure of Finnish Mission
Berserkistan, July 11 · Serbs Celebrate Srebrenica as Cerska Dig Continues
Berserkistan, July 10 · Body Count Rises to More than 40 at Cerska
Berserkistan, July 3 · Mladic Promised Safety to Srebrenica Muslims
Berserkistan, May 29 · Documentary Claims Serbia Provided Srebrenica Arms
Berserkistan, Massacre Hill Jim Bartlett in Bosnia's Killing Fields
Berserkistan, Ghosts in the Woods Team Berserkistan Investigates a Srebrenica Massacre Site
SREBRENICA
Serbs Massacre Muslims in "Safe Area" of Srebrenica
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Reports concerning human rights abuses in Bosnia Intac Access
Major War Criminals/Suspects CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia CalTech's Bosnia Site
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