Bones and Bullet Casings Found in Bosnia Pit

Ervin Taric, a former police criminologist in Sarajevo Canton, told the trial on Tuesday that the remains of 75 murder victims were exhumed from the Paklenik pit in the Sokolac municipality, along with 100 bullet casings and several dozen steel wires which were tied around the wrists of each body.

Taric, who testified for the prosecution, said it was established during the exhumation in 2000 that the Paklenik pit was shaped like a boot, with a round opening and very deep bottom.

“The first body was found at the depth of 16 metres. The deepest point of the pit itself is at 27 metres, where the last body was found,” explained Taric.

He said that as well as human bones, animal bones were found in the pit too, located at the very entrance, while the bullet casings were found above the pit, several metres from to entrance.

Former fighters Predrag Milisavljevic, Milos Pantelic and Ljubomir Tasic are charged with involvement in murders, forced transfer and imprisonment, torture and other inhumane acts.

According to the indictment, Milisavljevic and Pantelic helped kill several dozen Bosniak civilians at the Paklenik pit after they were taken there from villages around Visegrad.

The indictment says the offences were committed between April and June 1992 when Milisavljevic and Pantelic were police reservists in Visegrad and Tasic was serving with the Bosnian Serb Army.

The trial is set to resume on June 4.