New Mass Grave Unearthed in Bosnia

By Brent Surgeoner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Europe

KAMENICA, Bosnia – A new grave was uncovered in Bosnia containing the bodies of 616 victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. 

The grave was discovered in the village of Kamenica and is the largest mass grave to be found this year.  So far, nine graves have been found in this area, lending to its nickname “Death Valley.”

Forensic pathologists, who have been unearthing the grave for a month, reported that of the 616 exhumed bodies, only 76 were complete.  However, some of the bodies were so well preserved that they displayed faces with eyes wide open. 

Many of the bodies were blindfolded, bound at the hands and riddled with bullet wounds.

The Srebrenica massacre, which was carried out by Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, claimed the lives of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.  Srebrenica was declared a “security zone” by the UN during the war, but General Ratko Mladic ordered his forces to attack the town.  The massacre is considered one of the worst on European soil since World War II.

3,500 Srebrenica victims have been dug up so far, however only 2,500 have been identified by DNA analysis.  It has been difficult to locate all of the Srebrenica victims because after the mass execution, Bosnian Serb forces razed the burial sites with bulldozers, scattering the bodies into “secondary mass graves” in an attempt to conceal the atrocity. 

As scientists identify the bodies of victims, families are notified so that they may rebury their loved ones.

Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic and former leader of the Serb Republic of Bosnia, Radovan Karadzic are both wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for war crimes associated with the Srebrenica massacre and other atrocities.

For more information, please see:

Press TV - Mass grave found in Bosnia – 24 November 2007

Yahoo (AP) - Bosnia grave had more than 600 victims - 23 November 2007

Reuters - More Srebrenica bodies recovered in Bosnia - 22 November 2007