| Press Release |
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 5 July 1996
CC/PIO/097-E
First exhumation by ICTY to begin in Srebrenica area
A team of approximately 20 other investigators and experts from the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Tribunal will begin to exhume the victims buried in a series of alleged mass grave sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia on Sunday 7 July 1996.
These exhumations are expected to last up to three months and will be carried out by the Office of the Prosecutor with the assistance of:
- the national authorities;
- IFOR, which will provide security and other logistical support throughout the missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- United Nations Transition Authority in Eastern Slavonia, which will provide similar support in Croatia;
- the Boston-based non-governmental organisation Physicians for Human Rights, which will oversee the forensic side of the operations.
The main purpose of the exhumations is to determine the cause and time of death as well as to identify victims to the extent possible and to collect any other physical evidence associated with the mass grave site.
The first site to be exhumed is in the Srebrenica area.
Media Arrangements
John Gerns, forensic investigator attached to the OTP, will be the contact person on site for journalists wishing to report on the exhumations. He will have a first meeting with the press on Saturday 6 July at 6 p.m. at the Hotel Bristol in Tuzla.
He will give a daily briefing and facilitate limited TV-coverage of the operations.
At the Press Office of the Tribunal in The Hague, Gavin McCormick will deal with press inquiries related to the exhumations.
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
For more information, please contact our Media Office in The Hague
Tel.: +31-70-512-8752; 512-5343; 512-5356 Fax: +31-70-512-5355 - Email: press [at] icty.org