Dutch institute's forensic report on cause of death of Dada Vujasinovic

Dutch institute's forensic report on cause of death of Dada Vujasinovic

As already announced, Report of the Netherlands Forensic Institute was submitted to the High Public Prosecutors Office in Belgrade, made with aim to straighten out whether Dada Vujasinovic had committed suicide or was killed.

During this day, official translation of this report into Serbian has been finalized and translation was submitted to relevant prosecutor for further proceedings.

For the purpose of making this report, all available evidence was submitted to the Netherlands Forensic Institute, including pellets and felt wads retrieved from the body of Dada Vujasinovic. This evidence was lost for more than 14 years in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it was found under the request of the Commission for investigating the killings of journalists. It is very important to mention that the investigation in case of death of journalist Dada Vujasinovic was opened only in 2009, and that some expertise was carried out without evidence that was later found.

Commission for investigating the killings of journalists publishes in this statement Summary of findings of Netherlands Forensic Institute. Having in mind that based on all evidence the cause and manner of death of journalist Dada Vujasinovic was not determined, the Commission for investigating the killings of journalists will request from the competent prosecutor’s office to continue with investigation, offering the prosecutor all the resources that Commission has on its disposal.

Veran Matic
Chairman of the Commission for Investigating the Killings of Journalists

Summary of findings

The main goal of the examination was to investigate whether it would be possible to differentiate between suicide and murder. In this chapter the findings from the
various experts in the case are summarized taking into account the above mentioned goal.

Biological traces and DNA analysis The DNA profiles obtained from the felt wads [AAHJ2633NL] and from the pellets [AAHJ2634NL] can originate from the victim R. Vujasinovic, a biological daughter of R. Vujasinovic and T.N. Vujasinovic. This is in agreement with the information that the felt wads [AAHJ2633NL] and the pellets [AAHJ2634NL] were retrieved from the body/clothing of the victim.

No DNA profiles were obtained from the pellets retrieved from the apartment [AAHJ2640NL and AAHJ2641NL] and from the cotton pieces to clean the left barrel
[AAHJ2638NL]. The findings of the biological traces and DNA analysis cannot discriminate between murder, suicide or accidental death of R. Vujasinovic.

Pathology Conclusions with regard to the manner of death cannot be drawn on the basis of the findings described in the report of the post mortem examination. The injuries as described in the autopsy report can be the result of murder, suicide or accident.

Firearms and ammunition examination Conclusions with regard to the manner of death cannot be drawn on the basis of the findings described in chapter 6.
In this examination there where only indications found to one shot being fired. The indication to murder based on the suggestion of two shots being fired because of the two wad-parts [AAHJ2633NL] can be refuted.

Shooting distance estimation In the case of a murder In the case of a murder any shooting distance is possible. Therefor based on the results of the shooting distance estimation murder can not be excluded.

In the case of a suicide/accidental In the case of a suicide/self inflicted accident only short shooting distances are possible. During a suicide the state of mind of a person is known to be important. This can have influence to his/her body position. Although we are no experts in the field of human behavior due to the dimensions of this firearms (large shotgun), experiments were performed with stand-inns to determine average relevant shooting distances.

Based on this arguments the following can be concluded. Under the assumption that the discolorations on the skin and the clothing consist of deposited gunshot residue,the following conclusion for the frontal wound and the shooting distance can be drawn:

The findings are more probable6 if the shooting distance was not 0 cm. The findings using gunshot residue examination are far more probable6 if the shooting distance lies in the range between 13 and 80 cm than another shooting distance range.

Note: 13 cm is the maximum distance for possible shooting distance within the group of stand-inns for a possible suicide is when trigger was pulled using the finger or thumb.

Under the assumption that the discoloration on the skin and the clothing do not consist of deposited gunshot residue, the following conclusion for the frontal wound and the shooting distance can be drawn:

The findings are more probable6 if the shooting distance was not 0 cm. The findings using gunshot residue examination are far more probable6 if the
shooting distance is larger than 80 cm then lower than 80 cm.

One needs to stress that the last conclusion has a low evidential value. With this examination it was not possible to exclude one of the two scenario's (murder or
suicide).

The full report in English: