Remains of at least 34 persons exhumed at Rudnica

BELGRADE - The remains of at least 34 persons have been exhumed so far from a gravesite at the Rudnica quarry in the municipality of Raska, southwestern Serbia, the Serbian government's Commission on Missing Persons stated on Tuesday.

A number of exhumed remains are undergoing forensic processes and identification by a team of forensic scientists from Serbia and EULEX experts.

The next steps will include careful extraction of the remains and their forensic processing and identification, states the release.

The exhumation at the Rudnica quarry started on April 23 upon the order of the War Crimes Department of the Belgrade High Court.

Based on the DNA evidence available so far, the victims are Albanian nationals killed during the conflict in Kosovo-Metohija 1999, an earlier statement reads.

The field search and excavation now seek to broaden their scope so as to find other remains that are believed to be buried at this location, the Committee announced.

A second location at the Rudnica quarry will also be searched in the coming period.

Aside from the authorized state bodies and a team of forensic experts from Serbia, which are in charge of the forensic aspect of the exhumation, officials of EULEX, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Commission on Missing Persons and delegations of the Working Group on Missing Persons from Pristina are also present at the site in the capacity of observers.

Photo Tanjug, Boki (Archive)