forensic monitoring project report: vedro polje cemetery...

PHYSICIANS for

HUMAN RIGHTS

IT

FORENSIC MONITORING PROJECT REPORT

Vedro Polje Cemetery Exhumations Republika Srpska Commission on Missing and Tracing

(6 October 1998)

FINDINGS

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

Forensic Monitor Forensic Monitoring Project Tuzla, Bosna i Hercegovina

March 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 Bosnia and 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.org

VEDRO POLJE CEMETERY EXHUMATIONS

Summary of Events

On 6 October 1998, the Republika Srpska Commission on Missing and Tracing recovered the remains of seven individuals from a cemetery in the Vedro Polje area, 4 km south of Bosanski Petrovac.

The remains were wrapped in separate plastic bags and stacked within a single concrete crypt. Two individuals were found above the concrete floor panels of the crypt. The other five were beneath the floor. The remains were mostly skeletonized, and at least three were incomplete. All seven were at least partially disarticulated. Identifiable clothing associated with the remains appeared to be of civilian type.

According to witness information, these individuals were killed in 1995 and buried at this location in 1996.

A Forensic Monitor from Physicians for Human Rights was present for the duration of work at this site.

No Forensic Monitor was present for the postmortem examinations of the seven individuals recovered from the cemetery at Vedro Polje.

PHYSICIANSI for HUMAN RIGHTS, March 1999 1


Participants and Observers

Republika Srpska Commission on Missing and Tracing BOGDANI Milan Member GAJI Radomir Public District Attorney KARAN Dr. eljko Forensic Pathologist, Banja Luka KR MAR Goran Member MAKIVI Aleksandar Morgue Assistant MARI Milko Crime Technician VESELINOVI Slavisa Morgue Assistant

State Commission on Missing Persons Local Police

Office of the High Representative CHILVERS Peter Exhumations Officer, Banja Luka

Physicians for Human Rights STIKI Sandra Translator YORK Heather Forensic Monitor

Others International Police Task Force Joint Commission Observers (British)

Site Description

The Vedro Polje cemetery can be found on the Bosanski Petrovac topographic map at grid coordinates 33T XK 09107E 29498N (Sheet 2484 III, Edition 6 DMA, Series M709, and Scale 1:50,000; Figure 1). The cemetery lies approximately 4 km to the south of Bosanski Petrovac. It may be accessed by driving 3.75 km southwest on National Route 14-2 from Bosanski Petrovac, then turning southeast on the road just past the town of Kukinovac and driving another 3 km. The site is on the north side of this road.

The cemetery is in a relatively flat field and surrounded by a low, barbed-wire fence. Marble headstones and wooden crosses with Cyrillic inscriptions mark many of the graves. The cemetery is overgrown with scrubby vegetation and is not well maintained.

A witness led the exhumation team to a concrete-framed crypt, divided down the middle by a concrete border. The northern half of the crypt appeared undisturbed. It was capped with a concrete seal. The southern half of the crypt was covered with several planks of wood (Photo 1). The nearest crypt to the one under investigation appeared normal and undisturbed.

PHYSICIANS/or HUMAN RIGHTS, March 1999


PHYSICIANS.for HUMAN RIGHTS, March 1999


Site History

The witness who led the team to this site claimed that there were six individuals, two women and four men, buried in the southern half of the crypt. These individuals allegedly died in 1995 when Bosanski Petrovac fell to the Bosniaks. Although he did not say where the remains were stored in the interim, the witness claimed that they were not buried in this location until 1996. He said that three of the individuals in this grave were his relatives, but he did not know the identities of the others.

Exhumation Process and Condition of Remains

At 10:15 a.m., the laborers began removing wooden planks from the southern half of the concrete crypt. Some of the planks looked rotten and others appeared to be burned. Beneath the planks were many small, white, plastic bags full of dirt and gravel, with more dirt and gravel in between. Clear and red sheets of plastic were visible in between the bags (Photo 2).

The first human remains were found under the second layer of gravel-filled plastic bags. An unwrapped, skeletoni2:ed mandible and liquid were visible when the bags were lifted. As more small bags were removed, and a large sheet of red plastic was turned back, it became apparent that the body had been at least partially wrapped in the red plastic. Outside of the plastic, very gracile arm and hand bones were found within a sleeve (Photo 3). A small amount of saponified flesh adhered to the bones. At this point, Dr. Karan took over the excavation, working very carefully around the red plastic with a trowel. The hand bones were placed in a separate, labeled bag inside the red plastic with the rest of the remains. The remains inside the bag were completely skeletonized, incomplete, and disarticulated. Remnants of clothing that appeared to be of civilian type were also in the bag. Before removal, a photo was taken of the exposed remains with the label "Vedro Polje 1" attached.

The second set of remains was found somewhat deeper than the first. Wrapped in another sheet of red plastic, the remains appeared to be complete, but partially disarticulated. The remains were skeletonized. Long hair was found near the skull, and the civilian-style clothing included a red sweater. Photos were taken of the remains with the label "Vedro Polje 2" attached before and after they were removed from the crypt (Photo 4).

Another layer of gravel- and dirt-filled bags was found beneath these two bodies (Photo 5). A single latex glove was also found among the bags. Below this layer of bags, slightly less than a meter in depth, the laborers exposed the wet gravel floor of the crypt. They removed 5-7 cm of gravel until they encountered the concrete floor. They examined the excavated gravel carefully with trowels, but found nothing.

The exposed concrete floor was composed of 6 rectangular panels, each with metal handles at either end. Although the witness did not believe that any remains would be found beneath these panels, the laborers were directed to remove them. When the first panel was lifted, it was apparent that there were more bodies hidden underneath. Blue-trimmed, clear plastic sheets were visible 15-20 cm beneath the concrete floor of the crypt (Photo 6). When all six panels were removed, five more stacked bodies could be seen.

Inside the first sheet of this blue-trimmed plastic, labeled with a UNHCR logo and tied with blue cord, B ody 3 was wrapped in a blanket and lying on a rectangle of yellow foam rubber

PHYSICIANS for HUMAN RIGHTS, March 1999 4


(Photos 7 and 8). The remains were completely skeletonized but fairly complete. Clothing appeared to be of civilian type.

Beneath Body 3, Body 4 was also wrapped in a sheet of the clear, blue-trimmed plastic. The incomplete and disarticulated remains were skeletonized. The small amount of clothing appeared to be of civilian type. A pair of boots was also wrapped up in the plastic sheet (Photo 9).

The UNHCR plastic wrapped around Body 5 was tied with one piece of yellow cord and one piece of wire. Inside, the remains were skeletonized, very incomplete, and disarticulated. This bag contained only a few long bones and part of a skull (Photo 10).

Body 6 was inside a sheet of UNHCR plastic that was tied with a clothesline that still had pins attached. The remains were skeletonized, but apparently complete except for hand and foot bones (Photo 11). The skull was edentulous.

Most of Body 7 was inside UNHCR plastic that was tied with one yellow and one white cord. The remains were skeletonized with the exception of saponified flesh of the left foot. The remains were: fairly complete, but disarticulated (Photo 12). There was some clothing in the bag, but it was too wet and discolored to determine whether it was of civilian or military type. A tibia and fibula were found underneath the bag, but it could not be determined at the time whether these elements belonged with Body 7.

Bodies 3-7 v/ere each photographed inside the crypt and again after they were removed and set on the ground near the crypt.

A small bag of bones that were not obviously associated with any wrapped body was found at the bottom of the crypt. It was labeled separately from the seven numbered individuals.

All remains were placed in the Commission's vehicle for transport back to the morgue facility in Banja Luka.

A Forensic Monitor from Physicians for Human Rights was present for the duration of work done at this site.

Postmortem Examination Findings

No Forensic; Monitor was present for the postmortem examination of the seven bodies recovered from the Vedro Polje Cemetery. The results of the examination were not available at the time of writing.

PHYSICIANS/or HUMAN RIGHTS, March 1999 5


Photo 1, View to the south of concrete crypt and surrounding cemetery. (RollHY-025,Exp.l7)

Photo 2. View to the west of gravel- and dirt-filled bags with clear and red sheets of plastic visible in between. (Roll HY-025, Exp. 20)



Photo 3. View to the west of Dr. Karan examining Body 1. Note the arm bones in clothing outside of the red plastic near the center of the photo. (Roll HY-025, Exp. 22)

Photo 4. Body 2 following removal from the crypt. (Roll HY-026, Exp. 11)

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Photo 5. Layer of gravel- and dirt-filled bags found beneath the first two bodies. (Roll HY-026, Exp. 3)

Photo 6. Concrete crypt floor with the first of six panels removed. Blue-trimmed, UNHCR-labeled plastic is visible beneath the floor. (Roll HY-026, Exp.6)



Photo 7. Body 3 under the crypt floor, wrapped in plastic and tied with blue cord. (Roll HY-026, Exp. 8)

Photo 8. Body 3, wrapped in a blanket and lying on yellow foam rubber inside the plastic. (Roll HY-026, Exp. 9)


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 Richard Sollom, the Director of Communications is Barbara Ayotte, the Campaign and Education Coordinator is Gina Cummings, the Membership Development Coordinator is Steve Brown. William H. Haglund, Ph.D., is Director of PHR's International Forensic Program. Vince Iacopino, M.D., Ph.D., is Senior Medical Consultant. The director of Bosnia Projects is Laurie Vollen, M.D., M.P.H.

© 1998 Physicians for Human Rights. All rights reserved.

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