(5 Aug 1998) Serbo-Croat/French/Nat
Bosnian Croats have exhumed the bodies of nineteen Croats killed in 1993 during fighting between the Croatian H-V-O- and the A-B-I-H.
The bodies were exhumed in Bugojno in central Bosnia and taken to Prozor for identification.
Bugojno, in central Bosnia, was on the front line during the Muslim-Croat war in 1993.
It came under attack several times by Bosnian Croat forces, and this week Bugojno was once again the focus of international attention.
The grim task of exhuming the dead took place on Tuesday. Bodies were brought to the surface one by one.
They were carried away to trucks, and will later be identified.
Croats believe these are mass graves and that the bodies were buried without orders.
SOUNDBITE: (Serb-Croat)
"The exhumation of mass graves in Bugojno has begun today. They contain bodies of Croats, mainly civilians, slaughtered in 1993 by Muslims."
SUPER CAPTION: Ante Radic, Croat Forensic Spokesman
Bosnian Muslims claim the bodies were properly identified before burial and that their graves were clearly marked, therefore these graves cannot be classified as mass graves.
SOUNDBITE: (Serb-Croat)
"We cannot talk about mass graves since all the graves are properly marked. If the purpose of this exhumation is a proper funeral we could understand that. But if it has some other connotation then it is unacceptable. The Croat commission is conducting the exhumation of 19 single graves. All these bodies were properly buried in single graves by our Civil Defence. As you can see, each grave is properly marked and has the name of the victim engraved on it".
SUPER CAPTION: Jasmin Odobasic, Bosnian spokesman
Exhumations like these are in some cases vital to the International War Crimes Tribunal, seated in the Hague, which is attempting to bring war criminals to justice.
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