Mount Malusa, near the town of Foca, where the Piljak Pit mass grave was found, containing the remains of 62 Bosniaks. Photo: BIRN/Armin Graca. BIRN Publishes New Mass Graves Data from Bosnian WarBIRNSarajevoBIRNMay 4, 202308:30 BIRNSarajevoBIRNMay 4, 202308:30BIRN’s Bitter Land database of mass graves from the Yugoslav wars has been updated with more information about grave sites across Bosnia and Herzegovina, many of them natural pits and caves used to hide civilian victims’ bodies.
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The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network on Thursday published an update to its Bitter Land database, adding data about 12 more grave sites where victims’ bodies were buried in Bosnia and Herzegovina to BIRN’s searchable online resource offering information about mass graves from the Yugoslav wars.
“The database has been updated with mostly primary mass graves in the areas around Bosnian cities Prijedor, Bosanska Krupa, Sanski Most, Bihac, Brcko, Kljuc, Jajce, Visegrad, Foca and Mostar,” said Nejra Mulaomerovic, who developed the project with BIRN’s former regional director, Marija Ristic.
“Five documented gravesites are natural caves and pits used to dispose of the bodies of civilians who were killed. The exhumation process at these sites required great effort to bring out the remains, since some of the pits were over 100 metres deep,” Mulaomerovic added.
Një varr masiv parësor në fshatin Kurtalici, afër qytetit të Visegradit, ku u gjetën eshtrat e 65 boshnjakëve në vitin 2000 pas rënies së nivelit të ujit të lumit Drina. Foto: BIRN/Armin Graca.
Pamje ajrore e një varri masiv parësor në fshatin Sasina ku u gjetën eshtrat e 65 civilëve boshnjakë dhe kroatë të Bosnjës. Foto: BIRN/Zlatan Menkovic.
Pamja ajrore e një varri masiv parësor në gropën e Tihotinës ku u gjetën eshtrat e 53 personave. Foto: BIRN/Zlatan Menkovic.
Pamje ajrore e një varri masiv pranë lumit Studeni Jadar në fshatin Zaklopaca, ku u gjetën eshtrat e 54 boshnjakëve. Foto: BIRN/Zlatan Menkovic.
Gropa e Bezdanit, një varr masiv kryesor në malin Hrgar. Shpella është 85 metra e thellë dhe aty u gjetën eshtrat e 65 boshnjakëve nga Lugina e Ljutockës. Foto: BIRN/Zlatan Menkovic.
Gropa e Tihotinës, një varr masiv kryesor i zbuluar në vitin 2002 me eshtrat e 53 njerëzve nga zona e Bihacit. Foto: BIRN/Zlatan Menkovic.
Zona ku u gjet gropa e Tihotinës, një varr masiv kryesor mbi 100 metra i thellë, ku u gjetën eshtrat e 53 personave të moshës 17 deri në 55 vjeç. Foto: BIRN/Nejra Mulaomerovic.
Terreni në kompleksin e minierës së hekurit në Ljubija, ku u gjetën katër varre masive që përmbanin qindra mbetje mortore të viktimave të luftës nga Prijedori. Foto: BIRN/Nejra Mulaomerovic.
Most of the gravesites remain unmarked, with no official indication that war victims were buried there.
The memorial plaques that do exist were installed by people in local communities to remember their family members and neighbours.
No one has ever been prosecuted for some of the crimes, as in the killings of Bosniak, Croat and Serb civilians in the Carina and Zalik neighbourhoods near Mostar and the village of Bravnice, near Jajce.
BIRN’s Bitter Land database project was launched in June 2021 and maps the largest mass grave sites from the Yugoslav wars.
It now provides information on 68 locations of mass graves from the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo in three languages – English, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Albanian.
The data includes the number of victims identified after exhumations, thousands of archive reports and images, court documents, field research at the gravesites illustrating the scale of the violence and the subsequent cover-up operation to conceal the bodies, and information about current accountability and memorialisation efforts.
According to the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a result of the war in the country, more than 32,000 people went missing. To date, the remains of some 24,000 have been found, while more than 7,000 are still missing.
For more information about mass graves from the Yugoslav wars, visit the Bitter Land site.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
