Last year, the Institute for the Search for Missing Persons (INO) of BiH achieved better results than in 2020. A total of 93 persons were exhumed, while a total of 82 persons were identified. With the improvement of the weather conditions, work in the field in search of the remains continues this year as well.
The spokesperson of that institution, Emza Fazlic, explains that a different way of working was organized in the Institute last year, in the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, and better results were achieved compared to the previous year.
“In the past year alone, we had 1,400 field trips of our investigators who made pre-visit searches for information, ie verification of the information we came across, regarding possible locations of individual, mass and joint graves. We had 93 exhumations and 28 clean-ups, ie the collection of remains found at various locations on the surface, ie unburied, and on that occasion the remains of 81 victims and eight cases of individual remains were exhumed. During the past year, 82 people were identified, which is significantly more than in 2020, and we also corrected seven misidentifications that were performed by the classical method, “Fazlic specified.
According to her, the search for another 7,628 people listed as missing in BiH continues this year.
“We have also launched some new projects in cooperation with the Norwegian People’s Aid, which should result in the training of special so-called a cadaver of dogs that will help our investigators in the field to determine the micro locations where the remains or graves are hidden. We will also work in more detail with our partners to search the archives, both domestic and international, in search of information that could lead us to the remains of the victims we are still looking for, “said Fazlic.
She noted that better weather conditions are expected so that exhumations can be approached.
“Among others, when it comes to the area of eastern Bosnia, an exhumation is planned at the Kacelj site, which was demined and where the remains of at least two victims were found. Work will also be done in the area of Crnca and other localities in the municipality of Visegrad, and several other pieces of information are being checked concerning that area and other parts of BiH where the field will be improved by improving weather conditions “- said the spokesperson of INO BiH.
