REPORT OF THE INVENTORY OF CASES UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE CANTONAL PROSECUTOR OF TUZLA CANTON AND THE PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA RESULTS OF THE REVIEW OF CASES STORED AT THE PODRINJE IDENTIFICATION PROJECT, TUZLA (PIP) INCLUDING RESULTS FROM DNA SAMPLING AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER ACTIVITIES Distribution: Restricted Sarajevo, 14 March 2017 ICMP.ST.AA.828R.1.W.doc Table of Contents I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ 3 II. BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................... 5 III. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................... 5 IV. ORGANIZATION ....................................................................................................................... 6 V. PROCESS.................................................................................................................................. 6 5.1. Existing case documentation and data collection .................................................................. 6 5.2. Anthropological examination methods .................................................................................. 7 VI. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................. 7 VII. ORGANISATION OF FURTHER ACTIVITIES ............................................................................. 10 VIII. CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................... 11 IX. RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................... 12 9.1. Further work on PIP cases .................................................................................................... 12 9.2. Continuation of the NN inventory ....................................................................................... 12 9.3. Country-wide organisation and standards of work .............................................................. 13 ANNEX: Cases by status category and recommendations for further work .................................... 15 Forensic investigations concerning missing persons, including investigations concerning mass graves, other illicit burial sites and human remains they contain, are conducted under the authority of competent domestic institutions. This Summary Report presents findings and observations made by ICMP as part of the technical assistance it provides to these institutions. The competent institutions may contact ICMP for any additional information that ICMP may be able to provide. Parts of this Summary Report or its exhibits may have been redacted to protect the integrity of investigations and the privacy of persons. ICMP.ST.AA.828R.1.W.doc Page 2 of 55 I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. In November 2012, the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina (MPI) estimated there were 3,277 cases of unidentified (NN) remains thought to relate to the conflict of the 1990s housed in 10 mortuary facilities throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH). Additionally, some 4,408 NN cases,1 consisting mostly of ossuary material, were listed by ICMP and stored in two more facilities, the Podrinje Identification Project, Tuzla (PIP) and the Krajina Identification Project, Sanski Most (KIP). Of all these cases, 2,567 had a DNA profile with no match to approximately 27,000 reference DNA profiles from family members of the missing that represent approximately 8,000 still missing persons. 2. In May 2013, following the NN Working Group (NNWG) recommendations, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (POBIH) issued an order that would allow for an inventory of the mortuary facilities. The objectives of the review were to inventory human remains in storage, to determine the status of the cases, to assess whether additional post mortem sampling for DNA testing was necessary, and to recommend the next steps to the POBIH. Four smaller facilities (Mostar, Nevesinje, Goražde, and Travnik) were selected for a pilot project to determine the most effective process. The process continued at other facilities, and the order was updated on 27 May 2016, in light of the results of the pilot and on-going NN work. 3. This report describes the activities undertaken by the NNWG for cases under jurisdiction of Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Tuzla Canton at the Podrinje Identification Project, Tuzla (PIP). It describes procedures, summarizes results, lists case statuses, and provides recommendations for facility improvements and future standards of work. This report also provides recommendations for case resolution including additional activities required, which, if followed, will likely lead to the permenant disposal of the majority of resolved cases. The report covers all results up until the end of October 2016. 4. The review of cases at the PIP facility began on 27 September 2016, with the mortuary listing 4004 body bags and boxes holding: 667 cases of human remains, 123 bags holding human remains prepared for re-exhumation (to add body parts) in Potocari, 136 bags holding cases for ossuary, one bag holding animal bones, 70 bags holding historical remains, 15 boxes holding reserve samples. In addition there were 90 boxes with personal artefacts and evidence and 2,902 bags with clothes. There were 667 active cases (616 cases related to Srebrenica and 51 case non-related to Srebrenica) 510 of which under the jurisdiction of the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Tuzla Canton, 148 cases under the jurisdiction of the POBIH. There are 778 cases requiring re-associations to buried cases under the jurisdicition of Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Tuzla Canton, 45 cases under the jurisdiction of POBIH, two cases under District Prosecutor’s Office of Istocno Sarajevo and seven cases under Brcko Prosecutor’s Office. 5. The cases of remains contained a total of 11,905 distinguishable sets of skeletal remains designated as ossuary, comprising of 9,044 sets of extra bones from identified cases and 2,861 sets of fragmentary bones and bones in small bags that cannot be re-associated to bodies. The ossuary material (small and fragmentary bones that cannot be re-associated to bodies) has been recovered over 20 years from secondary graves and surface sites. All ossuary cases were found to have been previously reviewed, examined and sampled between 2011 and 2016. 6. A total of 1,489 samples for DNA testing were taken from 725 cases during the previous review of the ossuary material, from which only six new DNA profiles and 896 reassociations were 1 As of 2014, the great majority of the 4,408 NN cases at PIP (3,200 cases) and KIP (33 cases) are ossuary material which cannot be linked to identified cases. ICMP.ST.AA.828R.1.W.doc Page 3 of 55 successfully obtained. 7. All of the ossuary related cases have the potential to be closed as NN cases and put into permenant and retrievable storage (so that additional scientific analysis can take place in the future where appropriate) based on instructions given from the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Tuzla Canton. 8. Current on-going examination work means that currently there are no re-associations to be completed for cases stored at PIP and that there are 832 re-associations needed to already buried and identified cases. 9. Over the years, many samples and bones used for research were returned from ICTY and are stored at PIP, as well as the unconsumed portions of DNA samples previously submitted for DNA testing and returned from ICMP laboratories. There are a total of 5,723 samples in 15 boxes, which comprise 5,215 Srebrenica related cases (13 boxes), 52 Brcko related samples and 456 samples from Croatian sites. PIP staff have returned samples to active cases where possible. They relate to Srebrenica cases as well as cases under the jurisdiction the Brcko Prosecutor and also Croatian national authorities. It is recommended the remaining samples and bones related to Srebrenica (5,215 cases) and Brcko (52 cases) are stored and returned to relevant cases in the future where possible. It is recommended samples and bones related to Croatian excavations (456 cases) are repatriated to the Croatian authorities. 10. There were 108 cases that were found to have DNA profiles, but have no match to blood reference samples, and which relate to the conflict. These are only likely to be resolved if further investigative work is undertaken to determine whether there is potential to collect more relevant blood reference samples or undertake further appropriate analysis. 11. There are eight active cases that require further investigation and 129 cases that are waiting for pending DNA results to be able to determine whether they can be resolved. 12. With further work and the agreement of families to identification, burial and disposal, 198 active cases have the potential to be resolved in the short term. A total of 11,905 ossuary cases and 5,215 Srebrenica related returned post mortem samples, cases can be placed in appropriate permanent storage. Details of the review results by case status are provided in the report Annex tables below. 13. There are 198 DNA match reports and 129 requests for resubmission of samples issued by ICMP to MPI that have not been received by PIP staff. This is delaying completion of case work. MPI has