Suspected mass grave probed

Examination of a suspected mass grave that allegedly contains up to 500 bodies in Raška has begun this morning.

Izvor: B92

Tuesday, 05.06.2007.

14:08

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Suspected mass grave probed

War Crimes Prosecution filed a request with the District Court to launch an investigation into the allegations in order to determine whether the site in question contained the bodies.

The suspected grave site is located between Serbian police (MUP) and KFOR check points near the boundary with Kosovo.

Milan Dilparić, a judge with the Belgrade War Crimes Court, told reporters that he would initiate inquiry proceedings in case the excavation proved that the site was in fact a mass grave.

According to him, the check up could not have started earlier due to the humid terrain next to an artificial lake in Majdan.

"We came to check claims that the remains of an undetermined number of people lie at this location," investigative judge Milan Diplarić said. "We don't know if there is even one body."

Reuters reported that the site was still unmarked, as journalists were led right over it. Officials would first mark the site and then do a test dig over four to five days, bringing in forensic specialists if they find human remains.

Representatives of relevant domestic and international institutions and organizations will be present as the forensics probe the site.

War Crimes Prosecution spokesman Bruno Vekarić told B92 that the investigation had nothing to do with Chief Hague Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte’s ongoing visit to Belgrade.

“At the time we scheduled the excavation of the suspected mass grave site, there was no mention that that Del Ponte would come to Belgrade. Therefore, any such allegations are unsubstantiated,” he said.

“We have not paid any attention to political pressures, and we are doing this for our own sake, and not for the sake of the international community or Carla Del Ponte,” Vekarić concluded.

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