Tuesday, October 14, 2008

DNA EVIDENCE OF SREBRENICA GENOCIDE

According to the director general of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), Kathryne Bomberger, DNA evidence has proven that at least 8,000 people died during the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. Here is a short excerpt of her interview published by Newsweek and followed by a link to the full article:

Using DNA has proved to be an invaluable tool in providing truth regarding these disputed events. In 1999 we had hit a brick wall in making identifications—if there was no body there was no crime. After [former U.S. secretary of State] Madeleine Albright said [the United States] had satellite photos showing mass graves, the perpetrators went out and dug the bodies and moved them. We found one body in four different locations 50km [30 miles] apart. So we went to the families and said, “We are not sure if [DNA] is going to work but work with us and we will try.” We had to educate them about this DNA. We had to mount a huge campaign to take blood samples. We had to build a lab, and it was not until 2002 that we had a functioning process. We made our first DNA match of a 15-year-old boy from Srebrenica in 2001. So since that time to today we have made 12,000 DNA identifications of individuals in a five-year time span with over 1,000 for Thailand, 1,000 for the Balkan region and 9,000 for Bosnia. Of the 9,000 DNA matches, 4,174 of them relate to Srebrenica.

We can for the first time say that the 8,000—maybe more but certainly not less missing from Srebrenica is accurate.

Continue reading full article at this link...
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