OPERATIVE WORKING GROUP ON MISSING PERSONS MEETING ATTENDED BY CHIEF PROSECUTORS GORDANA TADIĆ AND SERGE BRAMMERTZ

 The main topics for discussion at the meeting were activities of the institutions included in the Operative Group, in terms of exchange of information and the search for the remains of missing persons.

The meeting of the Operative Group on Missing Persons was held in Sarajevo and attended by the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, Gordana Tadić and IRMCT Chief Prosecutor, Serge Brammertz.

The Operative Group was set up as a joint initiative of the IRMCT, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to share information between law enforcement agencies and all other actors that can provide information on possible locations of mass graves or remains of missing persons.

Pursuant to the recommendations of the Operative Group, a case file has been formed to coordinate activities of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, IRMCT, State Investigation and Protection Agency-SIPA, BiH Institute for Missing Persons, ICRC, ICMP and other institutions, in order to collect and verify information on possible mass grave sites, to conduct analysis and analytical processing of available data bases and archives of evidence for the purpose of discovery of data and information that could serve as indicators to locate mass graves and the missing persons.

Within the framework of Operation "Terra", witnesses are examined almost every day, analysis of available evidence are conducted, as well as field activities aiming to verify information and locate mass and individual graves.

The joint work has already resulted in the discovery of mass graves and remains at the locations of Lokvice-Igman, Hozić Kamen (B.Novi-N.Grad), Vlasenica, Miljevina, Prosar, B.Gradiška, etc. The colleagues from the IRMCT and ICRC also attended field activities at Lokvice-Igman.

The continuation of these activities in the process of search for the missing is necessary and important. The process itself is important and priority for the families of missing persons, as well as prosecutor’s offices and law enforcement agencies. The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH is responsible for handling all exhumation cases, and the Operative Group on Missing Persons provides significant assistance in collecting information used to locate mass and individual graves.

IRMCT support is extremely important in this process.