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PHYSICIANS for

HUMAN RIGHTS

FORENSIC MONITORING PROJECT REPORT

Sarajevo Area Exhumations Republika Srpska Commission on Missing and Tracing

(26-28 & 30 November and 1 December 1998)

FINDINGS

Report by: Heather P. York, M. A.

Forensic Monitor Forensic Monitoring Project Tuzla, Bosna i Hercegovina

December 1999

Physicians for Human Rights 100 Boylston Street, Suite 702 Boston, MA 02116 USA Tel. (617)695-0041 Fax. (617)695-0307 Email: [email protected] http ://www.phrusa. org

Physicians for Human Rights Pere Cuskica br.24

75000 Tuzla Bosna i Hercegovina

Tel/fax: 387-75-250-639

Financed with support of International Commission on Missing Persons

ICMP International Commission

on Missing Persons

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.phrusa

SARAJEVO EXHUMATIONS

Summary of Events

From 26 November through 1 December 1998, the Republika Srpska (RS) Commission on Missing and Tracing recovered the remains of at least 77 individuals from five of seven investigated sites in and around Sarajevo.

Fifty-three sets of remains were recovered within the city of Sarajevo. Twenty-six of these were recovered from two rows of individual graves in the eastern half of Lav Cemetery. Twenty-seven were recovered from a single mass grave 900 m to the west along a fence separating the cemetery from the Kosevo Stadium complex.

The remains in the Lav Cemetery graves were buried in individual graves and ranged in condition from saponified to skeletonized. Nine sets of remains were contained within body bags, six were wrapped in blankets, and one was wrapped in a blanket inside a body bag. Of those remains closely examined at the time of exhumation, live were disarticulated. Two of the sets of remains appeared to include burned elements.

The condition of the remains in the Cemetery Stadium mass grave was not observed at the time of exhumation. All but one set were wrapped in blankets with no other container. The other had no container or wrapping.

Twenty-six interments, representing at least 24 individuals, were recovered from three locations in a cemetery at Vlakovo, a small town west of Sarajevo. All of the Vlakovo remains were buried in individual graves. Two of these interments contained dirt, but no human remains. The remains ranged in condition from saponified to skeletonized. Of the three sets of remains closely examined at the time of exhumation, all were disarticulated. Ten sets of remains were contained within body bags alone. Two sets were interred in coffins with no other wrapping. Fourteen sets were in body bags within coffins.

Some clothing was present at each of these sites, but it was never determined whether it was of civilian or military type.

Two sites in Dobrinja, a suburb southwest of Sarajevo, were also investigated. No human remains were recovered.

A Forensic Monitor from Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) was present for the duration of work at these sites. However, no PHR representative was present for postmortem examinations performed on the recovered remains. No information regarding those examinations had been received by PHR at the time of writing this report.

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Participants and Observers

Republika Srpska Commission on Missing and Tracing BOGDANIC Milan IVANCEVIC Milan KARAN Dr. Zeljko MAKIVIC Aleksandar MARtC Milko ROSIC Jovo SKRBA Slobodan VESELINOVIC Slavisa Sarajevo Canton Police Laborers

Member, Banja Luka Member, Banja Luka Forensic Pathologist, Banja Luka Morgue Assistant Crime Technician President Member, Sarajevo Morgue Assistant

State Commission on Missing Persons (Bosniak Side) DRAGANOVIC Kemal KOSO Sejid MASOVIC Amor ODOBASIC Jasmin ZUJO Dr. Hamza Local Police

Member, Sarajevo Member, Sarajevo President Member, Sarajevo Forensic Pathologist, Sarajevo

Office of the High Representative (OHR) CHILVERS Peter Exhumations Officer, Banja Luka JOHANSSON Agneta Head of Exhumations Department (27-28 November) KLEIN Jacques Principal Deputy High Representative (28 November) KULJUH Klaudia Special Assistant and Translator

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) CONNOR Melissa KENNEDY Dr. Brenda KURET Zeljko PALMER Caitriona VOLLEN Dr. Laurie YORK Heather

Forensic Monitor (28 November) Director, Forensic Monitoring Project (30 November) Translator Media Relations Coordinator (27 November) Director, PHR Bosnia Projects (28 November) Forensic Monitor

International Criminal Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) COULETT Ken Republika Srpska Liaison Officer

International Stabilization Force (SFOR) WHEELER Safety Manager for Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ilidza American and Italian personell

International Police Task Force (IPTF) AL-OURAN Saeb Officer, Ilidza Station (30 November) VSEVOLED Kukuruz Officer, Ilidza Station (30 November)

Media DAHL Fredrik Print Journalist, Reuters

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Numerous Television and Print Journalists, including staff from Television Canalis, Republika State Television, British Broadcasting Corporation, The Guardian, United Press International, and others.

Others FINK Dr. Sherry Fellow, Human Rights Center, University of California,

Berkeley Witnesses and Family Members

Site Description

Four locations within the city of Sarajevo investigated by the RS Commission (Lav Cemetery, Cemetery Stadium, Dobrinja School, and Dobrinja Bridge) are on the Sarajevo topographic map (Sheet 2782 I, Edition 9-DMA, Series M709, and Scale 1:50,000; Figure 1).

Lav Cemetery. Two sections were investigated just to the west of the fence on the eastern perimeter of the cemetery at grid coordinate 34T BP 922E 608N. The two sections were separated by an east-west footpath through the cemetery. The southern section was approximately 15 m x 20 m. In it were approximately 80 tiny, wooden grave markers in roughly four rows (Photo 1). The northern section was approximately 30 m x 20 m. In this section were regularly-spaced wooden crosses, many bearing no inscriptions, in two rows.

Cemetery Stadium. A single area was investigated at grid coordinate 34T BP 913E 608N. This site was 900 m west of the Lav site, west of Alipasina Street. The grave was along the western side of a north-south fence separating the cemetery from the Kosevo Stadium complex. Twenty-seven fresh, wooden grave markers were set at regular intervals along the fence line. Each marker was inscribed with "NN" and "1993."

Dobrinja School. This area was a small cemetery at grid coordinate 34T BP 866E 562N in the suburb ol* Dobrinja. The cemetery was a 40 m x 20 m plot of land to the northwest of Simon Bolivar School. It was bordered on its northern edge by apartment buildings.

Dobrinja Bridge was a site beneath the bridge over the Miljacka River. It was at grid coordinate 34T BP 868E 582N in Dobrinja. The RS team worked on the riverbanks on both sides of the river. The ground was covered with brush and garbage. The investigated area on the southeast bank was hummocky. On the northwest bank, the investigated area was flat.

Three locations were investigated in the Vlakovo Cemetery (Vlakovo I, II, and III) which was accessed by taking National Route 5 west out of Sarajevo. At the gas plant in Rakisce, the road north led straight to the cemetery. The cemetery turnoff was at approximate grid coordinate 34T BP 787E 586N. All three locations were within meters of one another on the Visoko topographic map (Sheet 2782 IV, Edition 7-DMA, Series M709, and Scale 1:50,000; Figure 2).

Vlakovo I was at grid coordinate 34T BP 787E 607N in an area to the west of the main cemetery. There were a few scattered, marked graves in the area, but they were more sparsely arranged than in the central part of the cemetery. The RS Commission investigated an area of three wooden crosses over separate, mounded, dirt graves. The crosses each bore the inscription, "NN" and were numbered 1-3, south to north (Photo 2).

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Vlakovo / /was at grid coordinate 34T BP 788E 609N, northeast of Vlakovo I. It consisted of eight graves in a single row with wooden crosses (Photo 3), only one of which (the fourth from the south end) bore a name inscription. The other seven had only number inscriptions.

Vlakovo III was at the same grid coordinate as Vlakovo II. It consisted of 16 graves marked by wooden crosses bearing the "NN" inscription (Photo 4). Six of the graves were in a single row from north to south. One was in the next row to the west and even with the southernmost grave of the main row. Two were in a row to the east of the main row and even with the northernmost graves. The remaining seven graves were scattered around several rows northeast of the other nine.

Site History

Lav Cemetery. According to witness information, a ramp had been constructed during the war that led from the Kosevo Hospital to the eastern section of the cemetery. The ramp supposedly facilitated the disposal of Bosnian Serbs who had died or been executed following confinement at the hospital. There were reports of individuals who had still been alive when they came down the ramp. Some of these were allegedly sent back to the hospital, but were quickly returned, dead, to the trenches.

Jasmin Odobasic of the State Commission reported to OHR that the small grave markers over the first investigated section marked the graves of Bosniak children who had died in the Kosevo Hospital. The RS Commission countered that although these may actually have been children's graves, they suspected the burial location had been chosen specifically to impede the exhumation of remains lying beneath them. In deference to the family members of the children buried here, the RS Commission agreed to postpone exhumations in this section until further information could be obtained.

Cemetery Stadium. According to Dr. Zeljko Karan, the remains here were of Bosnian Serbs and possibly a few Bosnian Croats who were killed in the Sarajevo Old Town by a Bosniak "warlord" in 1993. The bodies were allegedly thrown into a cave and subsequently reinterred in this location in 1995. There was reportedly press coverage of this event. However, all the grave markers at the site appeared to be very new. Dr. Karan alleged that the Bosniaks put the markers up just prior to the exhumation to give the mass grave the appearance of individual graves.

Dobrinja School. The RS Commission was looking for the remains of three Bosnian Serbs at this site that had been on RS territory until 1995. No human remains were recovered from this site, and there was some confusion regarding whether bodies had been removed since the time of the reconnaissance visit in early November 1998. The RS Commission had information that a Bosniak funeral company had removed the bodies upon official request from the Bosnian Serb families.

Dobrinja Bridge. The RS Commission was searching for the bodies of three or four civilians who had allegedly been killed in 1992. After work had commenced at the site, the Forensic Monitor was informed that the area had been used as a munitions dump during and after the war.

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Vlakovo I, II, and III. The RS Commission had obtained witness statements that all 26 of these "NN" burials were those of Bosnian Serbs. At Vlakovo I, there were eight other graves in the immediate vicinity, but the State Commission wanted the RS Commission to wait to exhume these since they were inscribed with names and dates. The RS Commission agreed to postpone the exhumation of these until such time as they were able to get additional documentation on the eligibility of these burials for exhumation.

Exhumation Process and Condition of Remains

Lav Cemetery

Work at this site began on 26 November and continued through 28 November. Red perimeter tape was used to mark the areas of investigation and to prevent the throng of informants, observers, and media crews from interfering with the operation.

Trenching was done by shovel, beginning about 5 m west of the cemetery fence in the second section. At a depth of approximately 0.5 m, the first body bag was uncovered. Some unassociated remains and artifacts were bagged and labeled as they were excavated, but the general procedure was to expose all remains in the trench before beginning to remove them (Photo 5). Some screening was done (Photo 6), and the laborers were instructed to place hand bones in small plastic bags.

Trenching continued to the north and south of the first remains. Twenty-four sets of remains were eventually exposed in this line, numbered 1-24 from south to north. Care was taken to avoid two intervening, marked graves between the remains designated as Bodies 14 and 15. Bodies 25 and 26 were recovered from a second row, several meters to the east of the main trench. Body 25 was approximately even with Body 14, and Body 26 with Body 15.

Overnight on 26 and 27 November, remains that had been exposed but not exhumed were covered with a sheet of plastic until the next day when they were exhumed. At the end of each day, exhumed remains were placed in the RS Commission's vehicle for transport to the morgue facility.

The Forensic Monitor was with a splinter group at the Cemetery Stadium site during the bulk of the exhumation of the remains designated as Bodies 11-14; therefore, there is no detailed information on the deposition of these.

Of the 22 sets of remains observed by the Forensic Monitor, nine were inside body bags, six were wrapped in blankets, and one was wrapped in a blanket inside a body bag. Of those sets examined closely at the time of exhumation, five were disarticulated. Two of these also appeared to have been burned. Nine sets were made up of entirely skeletonized remains. One set contained some saponified tissue. In the six cases where head orientation could be determined, all were toward the east. The interments were generally extended and parallel with one another. They were buried at a depth of approximately 1 m, and none of the interments was more than 0.5 m from those adjacent. Clothing found with the remains was never examined closely enough to determine whether it was of military or civilian type.

Beneath Body 17, a separate set of articulated, extended, skeletonized remains was found. Another set was also found beneath Body 19. Before these could be exhumed, however, Dr.

PHYSICIANS./©/- HUMAN RIGHTS, December 1999 5


Karan and the Forensic Monitor determined that these burials probably pre-dated the war by many years. These remains were left in situ, and the trench was refilled.

During work at Lav Cemetery on 28 November, Principal Deputy High Representative Jacques Klein visited the site. He observed the last nine bodies being removed from the trench.

Cemetery Stadium

The 27 grave markers were removed and leaned against the fence separating the cemetery from the Kosevo Stadium complex. A backhoe trenched the area along the fence line, just east of Alipasina Street. Twenty-seven sets of remains were recovered, all but one of which were wrapped in a blanket with no other wrapping or container. The other had no container or wrapping. Clothing was never examined closely enough to determine whether it was of civilian or military type. Despite the 27 separate grave markers, the remains were interred in a single trench (Photo 7). There did not appear to be any commingling of elements in the mass grave.

Toward the completion of the exhumation, the backhoe cut into a water pipe (Photo 8). This happened late; in the day, and the exhumation of this site was expedited so that the remains could be removed before the trench flooded.

Dobrinja School

Upon arrival, the RS team determined that the remains they were looking for had already been removed. No further work was undertaken at this site.

Vlakovo I

After cordoning off a 10 m x 15 m perimeter with tape, nine shovelers exhumed these three graves. Approximately 1 m beneath each cross was a wooden coffin. The remains designated as. Body 1 ("NN 1") were entirely contained within a body bag. The Forensic Monitor did not view the remains before they were placed in the RS Commission's vehicle. The Body 2 ("NN 2") remains were mostly contained within the body bag, but the skull was outside of the: bag in the coffin. The remains were somewhat saponified inside the bag. The Body 3 ("NN 3") remains were inside a body bag and obviously disarticulated and incomplete. Most of the appendicular and some of the axial skeleton were present, but there were no cranial elements. All three sets of remains were submerged in water inside their coffins. These remains were designated as Vlakovo 1, Bodies 1-3, corresponding with the "NN" numbers, from south to north.

Vlakovo II

A backhoe lifted the soil from these seven individual graves, avoiding one in the middle that had a name inscribed on the cross. All but the first set were interred in coffins (Photo 9). The coffins were uncovered at an approximate depth of 1 m, while the one without a coffin was at an approximate depth of 0.3 m. All seven were inside body bags. Of the five sets closely examined at the time of exhumation, all were completely skeletonized and articulated, with heads oriented to the west. These remains were designated as Vlakovo II, Bodies 1-7, from south to north.



Vlakovo III

The backhoe uncovered another 16 interments at this site. These remains were designated as Vlakovo III, Bodies 8-23, generally from north to south. Nine interments at Vlakovo III were in body bags; with no other container. Two of these bags contained dirt, but no human remains. These ranged in approximate depth from 0.5 to 1.5 m. Six of the interments were in body bags within coffins. One of these coffins also contained a small Orthodox crucifix. These ranged in approximate depth from 0.7 to 1.5 m. One interment was in a coffin but no body bag. It was buried at a depth of approximately 0.7 m.

Some clothing was found with the remains at all three Vlakovo locations, but it was not possible to determine whether it was of civilian or military type.

Dobrinja Bridge. Laborers worked with picks and shovels on both sides of the Miljacka River (Photo 10). Several minutes into the digging, an unexploded grenade was uncovered on the southeast bank (Photo 11). The grenade was disposed of, but work was soon halted because of the safety risk. No human remains were encountered at this site.

Postmortem Examinations

No Forensic Monitor from PHR was present for the postmortem examinations of the remains recovered from the Sarajevo sites. Furthermore, no information regarding these examinations had been forwarded to PHR at the time of writing this report. If such information is received, it will be filed along with this report.



I MAP NAME: SARAJEVO SHEET NO: 27821 EDITION: 9-DMA SERIES: M709 SCALE: 1:50,000 GRID COORDINATES: 34T BP 1. LAV CEMETERY 922E 608N 2. CEMETERY STADIUM 913E608N 3. DOBRINJA SCHOOL 866E 562N 4. DOBRINJA BRIDGE 868E 582N

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PHYSICIANS for HUMAN RIGHTS, December 1999 8


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FIGURE 2: Vlakovo Cemetery Site Locations

MAP NAME: VISOKO SHEET NO: 2782 IV EDITION: 7-DMA SERIES: M709 SCALE: 1:50,000 GRID COORDINATES: 34TBP VLAKOVO I 787E 607N VLAKOVO II 788E 609N VLAKOVO III 788E 609N

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Photo 1 Tombstones allegedly marking the graves ofchildren in Lav Cemetery. (Roll HY-031, Exp.5)

Photo 2. View to the west of grave marker for Body I (UNN 1") at Vlakovo 1. (Roll HY-032, Exp. 35)

PHYSICIANS for HUMAN RIGHTS, December 1999 10


Photo 3. View to the west of grave markers for Bodies 3-7 at Vlakovo II (Roll HY-033, Exp.2)

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Photo 4. View to the west of grave markers for Bodies 3-7 at Vlakovo III. (Roll HY-033, Exp. 18)

PHYSlCIANS/or HUMAN RIGHTS, December 1999 11


Photo 5. View to the north of Bodies 1-10, exposed in situ, at Lav Cemetery. (Roll HY-031, Exp. 13)

Photo 6. Laborers screen-sifting grave fill at Lav Cemetery. (Roll HY- 031, Exp. 20)

PHYSICIANS/or HUMAN RIGHTS, December 1999 12


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Photo 7. View to the north of Bodies 11-23, exposed in situ, at Cemetery Stadium. (Roll HY-032, Exp.2)

Photo 8. View to the north of water from a broken pipe running into the trench at Cemetery Stadium. (Roll HY-031, Exp. 31)

PHYSlCIANS/or HUMAN RIGHTS. December 1999 13


Photo 9. View to the west of coffin lids of Bodies 4-7 at Vlakovo II. (Roll HY-033, Exp. 12)

Photo 10. View to the northwest at laborers digging into the bank of the Miljacka River at Dobrinja Bridge. (Roll HY-033, Exp.31)

PHYSICIANS./br HUMAN RIGHTS, December 1999 14


Photo 1 Grenade uncovered on the southeast bank of Miljacka River at Dobrinja Bridge. (Roll HY-033, Exp. 32)

PHYSlCIANS/or HUMAN RIGHTS, December 1999 15

PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mobilizes the health professions and enlists public support to protect and promote the human rights of all people.

PHR believes that human rights are essential preconditions for the health and well-being of all members of the human family.

We use medical and scientific methods to investigate and expose violations of human rights worldwide.

We work to stop violations of human rights.

We demand the perpetrators of human rights violations be held accountable for their actions under international law.

Since its founding in 1986, PHR has carried out forensic investigations, including exhumations and autopsies, of alleged torture and extrajudicial executions in Afghanistan, Brazil, Israel, the former Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Iraqi Kurdistan, Kuwait, Mexico, Panama, Somalia, and Thailand. PHR has also devoted considerable energy and resources, under the auspices of its Chicago-based International Forensic Program, to assist the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (and its predecessor, the U.N. War Crimes Commission) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, to collect evidence of genocide in those nations.

The President is Charles Clements, M.D., M.P.H., the Vice President is Carola Eisenberg, M.D., the Executive Director is Leonard Rubenstein, J.D., the Deputy Director is Susannah Sirkin, the Advocacy Director is Holly Burkhalter, the Senior Program Associate is Doug Ford, the Director of Communications is Barbara Ayotte, the Campaigns Director is Gina Cummings, the Director of Development is Mary-Jo Adams, Bill Haglund is Director of PHR's International Forensic Program. Vince Iacopino, M.D., Ph.D., is Senior Medical Consultant, and the Grantwriter is Maijorie Burston. The Director of Bosnia Projects is Laurie Vollen, M.D., M.P.H.

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