top of page

Exhumations Uncover Bodies in Bosnia Mass Graves

The remains of six people suspected to be Bosniak war victims have been discovered in a mass grave near the eastern Bosnian town of Vlasenica, and the bones of several more found in Koricanske Stijene.

A commemoration in 2012 for those killed in the Koricanske Stijene massacre. Photo: BIRN.

The Bosnian Institute for Missing Persons told BIRN on Wednesday that the remains of six people, presumed to be Bosniak war victims, have been found in a mass grave near Vlasenica, although the exhumation is not over yet.

“We expect we could find a larger number of Bosniaks killed in this region in 1992,” said the institute’s spokesperson, Lejla Cengic.

The remains will be transferred to the Commemorative Centre in Tuzla for DNA analysis.

An exhumation is also continuing at Koricanske Stijene in central Bosnia, the site of a massacre by Bosnian Serb police in 1992.

The Institute for Missing Persons said that the incomplete skeletons of several people have been found so far in the mass grave, which was discovered last month. They will also be sent for DNA testing.

In August 1992, the Interventions Squad of the Prijedor police shot about 200 men at Koricanske Stijene.

So far, 11 former policemen from Prijedor have been convicted of the murders.

Previous exhumations in the area uncovered the remains of 117 victims; the rest remain missing.

The whereabouts of about a third of the 30,000 people who were reported missing as a consequence of the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina still remains unknown.

Despite the fact that over 20 years that have passed since the war, mass graves continue to be discovered.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 BIRN

Follow Genocide Watch for more updates:

  • Grey Facebook Icon
  • Grey Twitter Icon
  • Grey YouTube Icon
bottom of page