BOSNIA NEWS

SREBRENICA,Bosnia - Remains believed to account for more than 130 genocide victims have been exhumed from a mass grave in eastern Bosnia, a forensic expert said yesterday.

"We have just completed the exhumation of the grave" that was discovered earlier this month, Murat Hurtic of Bosnia's Missing Persons Commission said.

Twenty nine complete and 102 incomplete skeletons have been exhumed from the grave in the village of Budak outside the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, Hurtic said.

He added that bullets and some personal documents were also uncovered. The skeletons were crushed, indicating that they had originally been located elsewhere before being reburied by the genocidal Serbian aggressor at the site by bulldozers.

Most genocide victims of the Srebrenica massacre had been buried in large mass graves and later moved to many other sites in an attempt by the Serbian aggressor to cover up the crime.

The reburials have made the identification process difficult since remains of a single person are often found in two or three places.

The genocidal Serbian aggressor overran the UN-protected eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica near the end of the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia before summarily murdering around 8,000 Bosnian men and boys within a few days.

Thousands of genocide victims from Srebrenica have been exhumed from about 60 mass graves around the town, with more than 3,100 of them having been identified by DNA analysis.

THE HAGUE,The Netherlands – 12 years ago, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issued its first indictment against Serbian war criminals Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, a statement issued by ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte reads.

Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic, the former political leader of the Serbians living in Bosnia, is sought by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, based in The Hague, Netherlands, for genocide committed against Bosnians during the 1992-95 Serbian aggression against Bosnia. He and the wartime commander of the genocidal forces of the Serbians living in Bosnia, Ratko Mladic, are the tribunal's two most-wanted war criminals.

“According to our evidence, Mladic and Karadzic are responsible for their participation in the genocide in Srebrenica – the killing of close to 8,000 men and boys following the fall of the enclave; the terror inflicted upon civilians during the siege of Sarajevo; the torture and murders in the infamous detention camps like Omarska, Keraterm, Manjaca, Trnopolje, Luka, to name a few; and many other horrific crimes, including rapes and other depraved acts committed against non-Serb civilians throughout Bosnia”, Del Ponte’s spokesperson Olga Kavran said reading her statement.

“Mladic and Karadzic are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war, the worst crimes known to humanity and the worst crimes committed in Europe since World War II. And, after 12 years, they are still at large. This is a permanent shadow not only on the work of this Tribunal, but also on the international community as a whole. The fact that two of the most notorious war crimes indictees are still able to evade justice is simply unacceptable”, the statement reads.

“This is why, on this grim anniversary, I would like to take the opportunity to again call upon Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro to do everything they can to locate and arrest Ratko Mladic, Radovan Karadzic and the remaining fugitives," Del Ponte said.

"However, I would also like to call upon the international community, all states who believe in the importance of international justice and the rule of law, to maintain and increase their crucial support. Without it, we would not be able to do our important work. Without it, there would be impunity.We must remain strong and vigilant in our pursuit because this is what we owe to the thousands upon thousands of those who perished at the hands of Karadzic, Mladic and their subordinates”, Del Ponte said in the statement.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – The Bosnian Ministry of Safety and the European Union Police Mission to Bosnia (EUPM) need to be partners in the police reform process, as well as in all the safety issues. This was emphasized in Sarajevo at a meeting between the Bosnian Minister of Safety Tarik Sadovic and EUPM Head Vicenzo Coppola.

They talked about the upcoming police reform in Bosnia and emphasized that it should not be “cosmetic”, the Bosnian Ministry of Safety announced.

They expressed regrets over the fact that Bosnian Council of Ministers has not yet discussed the police reform plan; which is the issue Minister Sadovic has insisted upon several times.

They exchanged opinions on amendments to the Law on the Bosnian State Agency for Investigation and Protection (SIPA), which proscribes that the Interpol is positioned as a special sector for police cooperation within the SIPA agency.

They concluded that the EUPM and the Bosnian Ministry of Safety have developed a good relationship. But that there is enough of space to improve cooperation.

Sadovic expressed support to the international community's high representative’s efforts to reach an agreement on police reform in Bosnia as soon as possible.

SARAJEVO,Bosnia – A joint military exercise will be held at the Mahovljani airport near Banja Luka, between the Bosnian Army and the US Army. The exercise will take place August 2 and is a part of the US and Bosnian military cooperation.

The Bosnian Presidency members, the Bosnian Council of Ministers representatives, US Ambassador to Bosnia, NATO Commander and the highest OHR, EUFOR, Defense Ministry and Bosnian Armed Forces representatives and others are expected to attend the ceremony which will be organized on the occasion.

The Bosnian Armed Forces’ military equipment will be presented on the occasion.Bosnia and the USA will symbolically emphasize the importance of cooperation between the two countries.