$ ZAGREB, 4 July (Hina) - The exhumation of Croats, who had been killed by the Serbs after the fall of Vukovar and buried in a mass grave at Ovcara, would start by 1 September at the latest. The exhumation was part of an investigation
by The Hague War Crimes Tribunal, Croatian Vice Premier Ivica Kostovic and expert for forensic medicine, William Haglund said in Zagreb on Thursday.
LATEST
$
ZAGREB, 4 July (Hina) - The exhumation of Croats, who had been
killed by the Serbs after the fall of Vukovar and buried in a mass
grave at Ovcara, would start by 1 September at the latest. The
exhumation was part of an investigation by The Hague War Crimes
Tribunal, Croatian Vice Premier Ivica Kostovic and expert for
forensic medicine, William Haglund said in Zagreb on Thursday. #L#
'We expect that the exhumation will start not later than 1
September', Kostovic said, stressing the decision on the beginning
of the investigation at Ovcara is to be made by the Hague
International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia.
The exhumation is to be carried out by a U.S. organization of
experts in forensic medicine, 'Physicians for Human Rights' - PHR,
from Boston, who in 1993 did initial unearthing and estimated, in a
report submitted to the United Nations, that some 200 people had
been killed and buried at Ovcara.
PHR representative William Haglund recently visited Ovcara,
which is under constant control of the United Nations Transitional
Administration in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES), and established that
the location had not been disturbed.
PHR experts would be able to use detailed data gathered by the
Croatian authorities at Ovcara during the past three to four years.
After PHR forensic experts complete their job for The Hague
War Crimes Tribunal, Croatian experts will carry out the
identification of the bodies.
(hina) rm jn
041827 MET jul 96