07 April 2011

EULEX experts from the Department of Forensic Medicine (DFM) exhumed the remains of three individuals, and returned the remains of two more in the village of Pastesel/Pustoselo near the town of Rahovec/Orahovac.

The remains of the two returned individuals, who were buried today, were indentified by EULEX forensic experts through a combination of DNA and forensic anthropological analysis. This is one of the cases where individuals were misidentified and wrongly buried during and after the conflict in Kosovo.

Alan Robinson, the co-head of Department of Forensic Medicine, says that the department is fully committed to determining the fate of missing persons and returning the remains to the families.

"There were a number of misidentifications made in 1999. Our office has been addressing this issue intensively and during this season we will continue to conduct exhumations to correct mis-identifications and search for the missing. The work is complex and it needs the cooperation of the families", said Alan Robinson.

As Kosovo lacks exhumation experts, today EULEX experts from DFM started a programme of mentoring in archaeology, in which four Ministry of Justice staff members of the Department of Forensic Medicine will receive training.

Since EULEX experts joined DFM in December 2008, the remains of over 200 individuals have been returned to the families of the missing. The department has conducted over 250 field operations.

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