A prosecution witness at the trial of Radovan Karadzic explained that a total of 6,606 victims have been identified so far from mass graves found in Srebrenica.
Thomas Parsons, Forensic Director of the International Commission on Missing Persons, ICMP, told the Hague Tribunal that apart from the 6,606 identified victims, the remains of another 166 people could not be identified due to the lack of samples for comparison.
The total number of victims from Srebrenica mass graves amounts to 6,772 people, explained Parsons.
The list of identified victims was introduced into the evidence against Karadzic.
Karadzic, former President of Republika Srpska and Supreme Commander of its army, is charged with genocide against more than 7,000 Bosniaks killed after the Bosnian Serb army took control of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.
According to the indictment, Karadzic is accused of the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats throughout the country, terror against civilians in Sarajevo by prolonged artillery and sniper attacks and taking international soldiers hostage.
At the start of cross-examination, Karadzic suggested that the US authorities control ICMP. However the witness denied this, saying that the Commission has a board of directors.
When asked who funded the Commission, Parsons replied that the money comes from more than 20 governments dedicated to maintaining peace and reconciliation in the Balkans and private foundations.
Karadzic also claimed that people who are still alive but whose “amputated limbs were put into mass graves” are also identified as victims from Srebrenica. Parsons rejected this claim as “extremely unlikely to be true”.
After Parsons had finished his testimony, psychotherapist Teufika Ibrahimefendic testified about the trauma of civilians, especially women and children, due to losses in Srebrenica during the war.
She testified that, while helping families, she had found that they suffer from “emotional damage and behavioral disorders”.
“Traumatic losses during the war are extremely stressful, because they come suddenly and violently”, the witness said, indicating that the consequences are “nightmares, depression and learning disorders”.
Karadzic’s trial will resume Monday, March 25.
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To the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, was a true sensation, and one to be exploited day after day.
In July 1995 Srebrenica was shelled and occupied by the Army of Republic of Srpska,VRS, despite being declared a protected area by the United Nations. More than 7,000 people were killed, the victims of genocide.