Pelemis and Peric: Moving Remains

Witness Matthew Vennemeyere, a forensic archeologist and anthropologist with the International Commission for Missing Persons, said that he conducted exhumations from “Kamenica 4” and “Kamenica 6” graves.

He explained that a report, which was made after the exhumations, mentioned “an alleged location” from which the bodies and remains had originated.

The witness said that, on the basis of objects found in those graves, the report said that the bodies and remains had originated from Kozluk grave, Zvornik municipality.

“However, later on I spoke to pathologist Rifat Kesetovic, who conducted a DNA analysis and prepared a final report on the origins of the bodies and remains which were found in those two graves. He told me that they had originated from Branjevo grave,” witness Vennemeyere said.

The witness testified at the trial of Momir Pelemis, former Deputy Commander of the First Battalion with Zvornik Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, and Slavko Peric, Assistant Commander for Security.

The two indictees are charged with participating in the murder of about 1,200 Srebrenica residents on Branjevo military farm and the murder of about 600 men in the Pilica Centre, Zvornik municipality on July 15 and 16, 1995.

Responding to questions posed by the Defence of the indictees, the witness said that he could not remember if pathologist Kesetovic told him what had made him conclude that the bodies found in “Kamenica 4” and “Kamenica 6” originated from Branjevo farm.

Referring to a report made by the International Commission for Missing Persons, the witness said that 302 bodies were found in those two secondary graves, but he did not know how many of them had been identified.

The trial is due to continue on May 13.

A.J.