Following the massacre, a handful of survivors from various massacre sites came forward and offered their testimonies, describing the brutal and horrific murders they witnessed.
After hearing their stories, and based on satellite photos taken of a Serb-held area of Bosnia, on August 10, 1995, the United States made public charges against BosnianSerb forces. One set Of photos displayed a soccer field crowded with prisoners; a second photo taken days later displayed an empty field with disturbed earth (Rohde, 1995).
The Bosnian Serbs maintained that the graves were filled with Muslim soldiers killed during combat and denied the accusations that a massacre took place. However, on October 29, 1995, reporters from the Christian Science Monitor, during an unauthorized visit, discovered a heap of clothing, shoes, and eyeglasses next to what appeared to be a freshly dug grave in the city of Sahanici. There were no signs that a battle took place, and a few canes as well as a crutch were also discovered--evidence that countered the Bosnian Serbs' that the graves contained Muslim combat casualties (Rohde, 1995).
For as long as they could manage, Milosevic, YNA, and Bosnian-Serb forces would not allow war crime investigators access to any of the mass graves. Without being able to freely investigate the land, U.S. spy planes were able to identify additional possible mass grave sites near Srebrenica. Amongst these sites, reporters from the Christian Science Monitor discovered "human remains, documents from Srebrenica, Muslim identity cards, personal photos with Muslim names on them, [and] civilian clothing" (Rohde, 1995).
Finally, almost a year after the massacre, in July of 1996, forensic experts performed exhumations of some of the mass grave sites without the permission of Serb authorities (CNN, 1996a, 1996b). Over the next few months, more graves, and consequently human remains, were discovered in areas surrounding Srebrenica. However, much to the surprise of UN investigators, by November of 1996, they had found less than 10% of the Muslim men who were missing. Each grave contained far fewer bodies than expected. With Milosevic successfully denying access to the grave sites for almost a year, it was suspected that the Bosnian Serbs had taken the necessary actions to cover up the massacre (Swain, 1996).
As time drew on, more grave sites were discovered and extamed, and and more bodies were accounted for, Investigators found many bodies in smaller graves in areas farther from Srebrenica. The Bosnian Serb's cover-up was slowly being revealed one grave at a time. The bodies were easily linked to Srebrenica, as several licenses and photographs of Muslims who had been in Srebrenica were found in the graves (Haverford, 2006). The Bosnian-Serb war criminals were suspected of trying to hide the massacre by digging up the primary burial sites and relocating the bodies in many smaller graves to make it seem as though the graves contained only the victims of small battles (Wood, 2004).
Their findings led investigators to suspect that three types of graves existed: undisturbed primary sites, disturbed primary sites, and secondary sites. The theory was the primary grave sites were sites where Muslim victims had been buried immediately following their executions in July 1995. Some of these graves had been undisturbed while others displayed signs that bodies had been removed and relocated. The secondary sites were suspected as the burial sites containing bodies that were moved from the disturbed primary grave sites in the fall of 1995 (Haverford, 2006).
Even in the large graves with fewer bodies, forensic investigations found significant evidence suggesting that most of the victims were not killed during combat. Hundreds of blindfolds and ligatures were found in the graves and many of the remains displayed evidence of execution-style deaths.
Also, prosthetic limbs, canes, and crutches found in the graves suggested that many of the victims were severely handicapped and would not have been able to fight in combat (Haverford, 2006).
Although it seemed as though there was plenty of proof that the Bosnian Serbs were responsible for the atrocious massacre, investigators still needed forensic evidence to the primary grave sites to the secondary sites. Such evidence would prove that the primary grave sites were originally mass graves resulting from a massacre and reveal the organized efforts the Bosnian Serbs took to conceal the evidence.
Exhuming the Evidence: Proof Grounded in Soil and Pollen
A team from the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia used pollen and soil to help bring justice to the victims of the Srebrenica massacre and their families. From 1997 through 2000, as part of what is believed to be the first war crimes investigation using environmental profiling techniques, the forensic team performed exhumations of primary and secondary mass grave sites to collect and analyze pollen and soil sediments. By analyzing samples from each grave site, investigators were hoping to find conclusive evidence that would link secondary grave sites to primary grave sites.
Over 24 different sites were examined with over 240 samples collected and analyzed (Brown, in press).
Each of the five primary grave sites examined contained distinctive soil, vegetation, and minerals. The investigations were aimed to find traces of soil, pollen, and minerals at each of the 19 secondary grave sites that matched the primary grave sites, proving that soil and pollen sediments were transferred to the secondary grave sites with the bodies (Brown, 2006). If the BosnianSerbs were telling the truth, all of the geological substances found within a secondary grave would have come from the area around... [article continues in link]
Re: Ah, Those Journalists
Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat
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) of belonging to a discourse belonging to debate two. Not out of any deliberate act, but unwittingly so.
(qui vole un oeuf vole un boeuf, qui vole un boeuf tue le bouvier).
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