EXHUMATION OF OVCARA MASS GRAVE COMPLETED

VUKOVAR, 7 Oct (Hina) - On 4 October an International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) team ended the exhumation of the Ovcara mass grave, near Vukovar. The bodies had been transported to Zagreb under UNTAES and Croatian police escort. The autopsy of the bodies would be performed on Monday, ICTY investigator Vladimir Dzuro told a press conference in Vukovar UNTAES headquarters today. #L# None of the recovered bodies was female, Dzuro said, adding that the autopsy might reveal different results, since some bodies consisted only of bones. Asked about the way the victims had been killed, Dzuro said that a lot of ammunition had been found near the exhumation site. Numerous personal items had been found in the grave and it would be established during the autopsy to which bodies they belonged, Dzuro said. Certain identification papers had also been found with the bodies and they would also be sent to Zagreb for an investigation. The exhumation was only the first step in the ICTY investigation, Dzuro said, adding that only after the identification was completed it would be possible to establish whether the victims had been patients of the Vukovar hospital, Dzuro said. UNTAES deputy spokesman Yuri Chizik thanked media representatives for 'objective and balanced reports' on the exhumation. Chizik added that UNTAES would provide timely information for the media about a possible visit to the mass grave site. (hina) rm 071555 MET oct 96