In 12 morgues in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), there are remains of almost three thousand victims of the past war who have not yet been identified.
The spokesperson for the Institute for Missing Persons of BiH, Emza Fazlic, said in an interview with agency Fena that the largest number of them are located in the premises of the Podrinje identification project in Tuzla, while a large number of unidentified remains are also located in four morgues within the scope of the Regional Office Istocno Sarajevo, i.e. in morgues in Travnik, Visoko, Gorazde, and Miljevici.
Fazlic notes that almost half of the total number of remains that have not been identified, more precisely about 1,600 remains, are actually cases from which a DNA profile was isolated, but there was no match with the blood samples of the families of the missing persons all these years.
”We believe that this number of remains from which DNA was isolated, but which for all these years had no match, is to a certain extent a consequence of wrong classic identifications. As a reminder, until 2001, the victims were identified using the classic method, i.e. the method of identification, mostly by clothing and other items, physical constitution, premortal injuries and the like,” noted Fazlic.
According to her, such a method is actually not completely reliable, and mistakes were made, the corrections of which the Institute for Missing Persons works on a daily basis. Up to 10 cases in which identities have actually been replaced are corrected annually.
”This process is extremely complex and painful for the families of the missing persons, because it is necessary to explain to someone who recognized their child 25 years ago, that they may have made a mistake, and that there may be the remains of another victim in that grave for whom the family also searches tirelessly and lives in agony. Precisely because of this, it is extremely important to work on these cases so that all those who are looking for their loved ones can find their remains. Correcting these mistakes is an important process that lies before us, but also for the countries in the region,” emphasized Fazlic.
”Srebrenica is specific in that there were no wrong identifications in these cases, because all the victims were identified using the DNA method. However, a number of victims could not be identified all these years. Namely, in relation to 92 victims, we have a separate DNA profile, but there was no match with the blood samples of the families of the missing persons all these years. Bearing in mind that all victims of genocide were identified through the DNA method, there was no identity substitution in these cases. This actually means that there is no one to identify these victims, that is, there are no blood samples of their living relatives with which the isolated DNA would match,” explains Fazlic.
On the other hand, 58 victims were not officially identified by their families, even though their identities were determined by DNA analysis. Namely, Fazlic says that it is extremely difficult for families to bury just one or two bones of a family member, and that is why many families decide to wait, even for a decade or two, in the hope that the remaining parts of their loved ones’ skeletons will be found.
E.Dz.
