Bosnian Serb forces concealed the graves of their victims by malicious design. These graves were not meant to be found. The crimes that they reveal were never intended to be prosecuted.

Exhumations of mass graves provide essential forensic evidence for ICTY prosecutions of the perpetrators of the Srebrenica massacre. Remains of Srebrenica victims have been found with bullet holes in the head, bound wrists, and blindfolds – all proof that they died by execution rather than in combat as originally claimed by Bosnian Serb authorities.

In July 1996, international forensic scientists, including experts associated with Physicians for Human Rights, began to exhume the first mass grave related to Srebrenica. This was in Cerska, located northwest of Srebrenica. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) was established in 1996 to help to address the problem of the thousands of missing persons in the aftermath of the wars in the former Yugoslavia. In 1999, the ICMP established the Podrinje Identification Project (PIP) to focus on the “missing” of Srebrenica.

To prevent the detection of graves, various units of the Bosnian Serb army (VRS) exhumed remains from primary mass graves and reburied them in smaller, secondary mass graves. During this process, mainly carried out between August and November 1995, they deliberately damaged and dispersed remains with heavy operating equipment. In January 2005, the ICMP established the Lukavac Re-association Center for the purpose of re-associating (to the extent possible) remains from Srebrenica-related secondary graves.

Exhumed by the ICMP in July 2005, the secondary mass grave depicted in the next photograph is in the vicinity of the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial and Cemetery. The primary mass grave is located in Glogova, which is northeast of Srebrenica. Investigators have determined that at least 700 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were originally buried in the Glogova grave and that they were part of the column of about 15,000 men and boys who attempted to escape through the woods to Tuzla. When captured by Bosnian Serb forces, they were transported to a warehouse situated near Kravica where they were executed – an estimated 200 just outside and 500 within the warehouse.

The ICMP initially relied on traditional forensic methods and only used DNA to confirm identifications based on these methods. The condition of the remains, however, rendered traditional identifications virtually impossible. In 2001, ICMP scientists reversed the identification procedure so that today the entire process is led by DNA technology; specifically, DNA obtained from bone samples of remains is compared with the DNA from blood samples donated by survivors. Forensic scientists then confirm a positive DNA match by examining the remains at the ICMP Podrinje Identification Project morgue in Tuzla. Finally, a death certificate is signed by Dr. Rifat Kesetovic, the chief ICMP pathologist. As of July 2005, the ICMP had identified 2,079 victims of the Srebrenica massacre.