BOSNIAN SERBS START EXHUMATION OF MASS GRAVE IN SARAJEVO

SARAJEVO, Nov 26 (Hina) - A Bosnian Serb commission for missing persons on Thursday started the exhumation of a site in central Sarajevo, suspected of hiding the remains of a number of Serbs. The exhumation is taking place at the Sarajevo cemetery "Lav" under the supervision of representatives of the international war crimes tribunal. Several hundreds of civilian war victims were buried at the cemetery during the Serb siege of the Bosnian capital. The commission's head Jovo Rosic told reporters he expected about 150 bodies to be found at this location. "We also suspect that there is another mass grave with at least 25 bodies near the Kosevo stadium", Rosic added. This is the first time an investigation into mass graves is being conducted in the central Sarajevo area. The Serb commission has also announced that it would investigate another site on Mt Trebevic outside the city. According to the Sarajevo-based magazine "Dani", the Mt Trebevic mass grave hides the bodies of a large number of victims, mostly Serbs and Croats, killed during 1992 and 1993 by the members of a Bosnian army unit, led by the notorious Musan Topalovic Caco. Topalovic was killed in October 1993 by the Bosnian army. The circumstances of his murder have still not been uncovered. According to the Serb commission for missing persons, the remains of eight persons have been recovered in the first hours of exhumation at the "Lav" cemetery. The bodies were found in a layer beneath other graves. The exhumation will continue in the next ten days. Deputy head of the Bosniak (Muslim) commission for missing persons, Jasmin Odobasic, claims that the cemetery does not hide any mass graves. Persons who had no relatives and died or were killed during the siege of the city were also buried at the cemetery, he added. Odobasic said the Serb side expected to find the remains of about 400 - 8,000 Serbs killed during the war at different locations in Sarajevo. "This is pure nonsense placed during the war by the Serb Democratic Party (SDS). It amazes me that the current Republika Srpska authorities still stick to it", Odobasic said. According to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) data, there are 240 Sarajevo Serbs who had gone missing during the war, including 50 soldiers, Odobasic said. However, the Serb commission for missing persons' head Rosic said that exhumations would continue on several other locations outside Sarajevo in March next year. Alexandra Stiglmayer, spokeswoman for the Office of the High Representative, said that the exhumation which started today in Sarajevo was the last such project in this year. Through cooperation between the authorities of the two Bosnian entities, 250 mass graves have been discovered with the remains of about 1,700 persons. (hina) rml