THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Jan 26(Hina) - At least 2,541 bodies have been exhumed from mass grave sites around the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, Hague tribunal investigator Patrick Manning said at the trial of former Yugoslav president
Slobodan Milosevic before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Monday.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Jan 26(Hina) - At least 2,541 bodies have been
exhumed from mass grave sites around the eastern Bosnian town of
Srebrenica, Hague tribunal investigator Patrick Manning said at the
trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic before the UN
war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Monday.#L#
Manning, who was involved in the exhumations, stressed that the figure
was the most conservative assessment possible, because it did not
include a large number of body parts that could not be put together
and because there were mass graves that had been discovered but not
yet opened.
Under the indictment which charges Milosevic with genocide in
Bosnia-Herzegovina, after the capture of Srebrenica in July 1995,
Bosnian Serb forces executed more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys aged
from 16 to 77.
Manning said it was hard to determine the total number of bodies,
because in their attempt to destroy evidence Bosnian Serb authorities
had transferred bodies to secondary graves by means of construction
machinery, seriously damaging the bodies and mixing their parts.
Victims were mostly shot dead, but there were also cases when they
were killed by hand grenade, the witness said.
The prosecution included into the witness evidence file a large number
of documents and photographs about exhumations.
During the cross-examination, Milosevic pointed to different estimates
of the number of victims, ranging from the most frequently cited 8,000
to 12,000 as claimed by some foreign officials.
Manning said he considered the figure provided by the International
Committee of the Red Cross -- over 7,000 missing Muslims -- as the
most accurate.
The witness rejected frequent assertions by Milosevic that a
considerable number of residents of Srebrenica had been killed in
battle when they tried to break through the siege.
Manning stressed that 1,441 bodies had been found blindfolded or with
their hands tied and with traces of bullets, which he said was
indisputable proof that the victims were executed.
Asked by the accused if the investigation had revealed any link
between Yugoslav government bodies or individuals and the Srebrenica
massacre, Manning replied in the negative.
The trial will continue with testimony by another prosecution
witness.
(Hina) vm