Autopsy, identification of exhumed remains in progress

BELGRADE - The process of autopsy and identification of the remains exhumed from a gravesite at the Rudnica quarry, southern Serbia, is underway, and a second location at the quarry, also believed to hold human remains, will be searched in the next several weeks, the Serbian government's Commission on Missing Persons stated on Tuesday.

The largest part of the site was searched in detail as forensic archaeologists unearthed more than 43 bodies and a large number of partial remains. Current estimates say that at least 50 victims of the 1999 conflict in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) were buried at the site.

Six weeks since the beginning of the exhumation process in the area of the Rudnica quarry, Raska municipality, authorized state bodies and a team of forensic experts from Serbia, in cooperation with EULEX experts and Pristina delegation of the Working Group on Missing Persons, continue the activities on the discovered mass gravesite.

Representatives of associations of KiM Serb and Albanian families of missing persons visited the Rudnica quarry gravesite to learn more about the work methodology and future activities in this location.

Authorized state bodies and the forensic expert team from Serbia are strongly committed to this large and complex project, with the support of the EULEX Department of Forensic Medicine, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Commission on Missing Persons, states the release.

Photo Tanjug Video (archive, illustration)