Exhumation in Srebrenica Area Halted

The exhumation of victims at Ljeljen do, near Srebrenica, was stopped on June 16 this year because no remains have been found – BIRN Justice Report has been told.

“We dug several trenches on the basis of coordinates received from the Republika Srpska Government’s Commission for the investigation of the events that took place in the Srebrenica protected zone and its surroundings but we have not found anything,” said Amor Masovic, member of the Board of Directors of the Missing Persons Institute, INO, of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
Jasmin Agovic, Public Relations Officer with the International Commission for the Missing Persons, ICMP, says, on the basis of information gathered in the field, no remains have been found at Ljeljen do.
 
The exhumation of remains in Ljeljen do began on Wednesday, June 15, based on an order issued by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina , which led the exhumation process, confirmed that the information available to it proved to be untrue.
 
According to an earlier announcement by the State Prosecution, it was suspected that remains of a large number of victims, whose bodies were first buried in Glogovi and then transferred to Ljeljen do later on, were buried here.
 
Officers of INO BiH and International Commission for the Missing Persons, ISMB, a court medicine expert (pathologist) and workers of the Commemorative Centre in Tuzla took part in the exhumation.
 
Although the exhumation has been halted, Masovic said that they had got information of their own, which indicated that some remains could be found in the wider area of Ljeljen do, and would be searched in the upcoming period.

A.J.