Based on the Protocol on cooperation in searching for missing persons concluded between the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the remains of five preliminarily identified victims of the past war were handed over between the two countries today.
The Institute handed over the remains of four people exhumed in BiH to neighboring Serbia, i.e. the Commission for Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, but the families wanted the remains to be officially identified or buried in Serbia.
The remains of Novka (Nedja) Lemez, born in 1950 in Mravljača near Foča, were handed over to Serbia. She disappeared in Sarajevo in 1992, and her remains were exhumed near the Koševo stadium in Sarajevo in 1998.
The Commission for Missing Persons also took over the remains of Bosiljka (Luka) Mandić, born in 1942 in Nevesinje. She also disappeared in the Sarajevo area, and her remains were exhumed at the Lav cemetery site in Sarajevo in 1999.
In both cases, the victims were finally identified in 2019, and the families expressed the wish that their remains be buried in the area of Belgrade.
Today, the remains of two other persons presumed to be of Serbian nationality, who disappeared in 1992 in the Sarajevo area, were handed over to the Commission for Missing Persons. Their remains were exhumed at the Lav cemetery in Sarajevo in 1999. The official identification will be held in the Republic of Serbia.
The Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina took over the incomplete remains of a Serb victim, who went missing in 1992 in Rožanj, Zvornik municipality. The remains of this victim were buried in 1992 under the sign NN in Belgrade, and were exhumed in 2004.
The identity of the victim was preliminarily determined in 2019 with the DNA method. The Institute for Missing Persons of BiH was ordered to take over the remains of this victim in order to be placed in the Miljevići Memorial Ossuary in East Sarajevo, until final identification.
