AUTHOR: javno165
PHOTO: Archive


NEW SREBRENICA MASS GRAVE

NOVEMBER 18 2009 16:16h

New Srebrenica mass grave discovered

Text

The grave is located near the hamlet of Vidikovac, in Srebrenica's surroundings.

Remains believed to be those of victims of the Srebrenica massacre were found on Wednesday in a new mass grave located near the eastern Bosnian town, an official quoted by the FENA news agency said.

The grave, measuring 25 by three metres (82 by 10 feet), is "secondary", meaning that the victims' remains were moved there from other sites in a bid to cover up the crime, local prosecutor Fatima Hadzibeganovic said.

Due to the grave's size it is expected to hold a large number of victims, she said, without providing further details.

The grave is located near the hamlet of Vidikovac, in Srebrenica's surroundings.

Bosnian Serb forces killed some 8,000 Muslim men and boys after they overran the then UN-protected enclave on July 11, 1995, perpetrating the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

The massacre has been ruled as genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), both based in The Hague.

The remains of thousands of Srebrenica massacre victims have been exhumed over the past years from about 70 mass graves around the ill-fated town, with more than 5,600 people identified by DNA analysis.

The trial before the ICTY of the massacre's alleged mastermind, Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, has been adjourned until March next year.

Karadzic was arrested in Belgrade in July 2008 after 13 years on the run.

His military commander Ratko Mladic, also indicted by the ICTY in connection with Srebrenica, remains on the run and is believed to be hiding in Serbia.