[cryptome] I have been investigating this incident since 2000 it involves taking bones.doc
- From: "Dave Belgard" <dbelgard@xxxxxxx>
- To: <cryptome@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:25:44 -0400
Sorry several readers suggested I do this as one document avoids clouds and
external links. So I apologize for the reposting. Its only 3,222 words
Thank you for the encouragement so far db.
I have been investigating this incident since 2000 it involves taking bones,
body parts and artifacts from victims of the war in Kosovo and FRY.
The magic key words are` `Jose's work as far as I can see is good work ...
It's taking little tiny pieces of bone that no one would ever miss." (
articles attached next.) For 10 plus years, I have called and written to the
ICTY, the United Nations, OSCE
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and others to, finally
account for the actions taken by ICTY. . l I have written and spoken to
everyone I could basically the answer has been "Nun sacciu, nun vidi, nun
ceru e si ceru durmiv."
"I know nothing, I didn't see anything, I wasn't there, and if I was there,
I was asleep" Most of those who know have assured me they will buy a tee
shirt if I make one.
I have a list of questions ( attached Questions.doc at bottom ) that I have
been trying to get ICTY to answer which is why was this was done and why
this still has not been fully fixed.
It is my understanding there are still lawsuits pending against ICTY
International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia and many bones taken by the
ICTY and others, still have not been returned to the victim families and
friends, as well as artifacts that were taken its now 10 years and it is
time to make this right.
My wants are simple help the victims who are double victims now and call to
account those who allowed this to happen. I saw the samples while in Kosovo.
I was there I know who knows but no one wants to be a rat and in a business
where going along to get along is preferred no on wants to be a hero, and
yet they are there to protect human rights.
I will end this intro with a statement One day let us call us the ICTY
diggers we were told with a strong admonishment which was "remember that
when you do an exhumation take everything from the grave finger nails, hair
everything, and put it into the body bag leave nothing behind. Bring
everything back to the morgue, never take anything, and not turn it in and
again, it is the Muslim religion so remember bring everything even a
fingernail. You have already read the key words above. Need I say more? I
will say more I am not a Muslim and have no family ties to the region only a
strong belief in human rights and protecting them.
Anyone who knows anything, please contact me send documents and pictures
anything in this matter dbelgard@xxxxxxx
Thank you
Respectfully
David Belgard
Both
Bones Row Hinders War Crimes Tribunal
The Age
Wednesday October 31, 2001
SIMON MANN, EUROPE CORRESPONDENT
LONDON
A controversy over body parts is causing discord in the United Nations war
crimes tribunal in The Hague, with international forensic scientists angry
about ``unethical" practices involving samples taken from Balkan graves.
The issue involves bone and tooth samples taken from thousands of victims of
the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo.
The deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia, Australian Graham Blewitt, described the controversy as a
professional clash.
It revolves around the retention by the tribunal of bone and tooth samples
used for estimating the age of victims. The samples were collected during
exhumations in the Balkans over the past several years as part of a research
project being conducted for the tribunal by a senior forensic
anthropologist.
But experts from Europe and the United States who have worked for the
tribunal on secondment say the samples do not need to be kept in The Hague
and fear that many will not be returned to their correct graves.
The experts say this has presented the tribunal with a huge ethical
quandary. They say some samples were taken from bodies that had been
presumptively identified, without the consent of relatives.
Several forensic experts learnt of the controversial practice during field
work. They said that, on occasions, categorizing body samples was a
shambles.
Some staff working for the International Commission for Missing Persons in
Bosnia became aware that the tribunal was removing the bone and teeth
samples when they tried to narrow down tribunal estimates of the age of
individual victims removed from mass graves around Prijedor.
Bunfight Breaks Out At UN Tribunal Over Use Of Body Parts
Simon Mann
702 words
31 October 2001
Sydney Morning Herald
SMHH
14
English
Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd
Claims of unethical practices are jolting the war crimes court, reports
Herald Correspondent Simon Mann in London.
A body parts controversy is embroiling the United Nations war crimes
tribunal in The Hague, with international forensic scientists outraged by
what they say are unethical practices involving samples taken from Balkans
graves.
The issue involves bone and tooth samples taken from thousands of victims of
the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. So far, the tribunal has kept the controversy
under wraps for fear that it could compromise its efforts in bringing war
criminals to justice.
The revelations come as the tribunal's most high-profile suspect, the former
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, returned to court on charges of
crimes against humanity, including mass murder in Kosovo and Croatia.
Graham Blewitt, the tribunal's Australian deputy prosecutor, called the body
parts controversy a professional ``bunfight''.
It centres on the tribunal's retention of bone and tooth samples used for
identifying the age of victims. The samples were collected during
exhumations in the Balkans over the past several years as part of a research
project being conducted by a senior tribunal forensic anthropologist.
However, experts from Europe and the United States who have worked for the
tribunal on secondment say the samples did not need to be kept in The Hague
and fear that many will be unable to be returned to their correct graves.
They say some samples were taken from bodies that had been presumptively
identified, without the consent of relatives, and that keeping the samples
contravenes the Muslim customs of many victims.
One scientist, who asked not to be identified, said: ``I try to be
supportive of the tribunal whenever possible ... but they really do have a
major problem on their hands.''
Some staff working for the International Commission for Missing Persons in
Bosnia only became aware that the tribunal was removing the samples when
they tried to narrow down the tribunal's estimates of the age of individual
victims pulled from mass graves around Prijedor.
``Some of the age ranges were ridiculous: from 17 years to 70 years, for
example,'' said a commission worker involved in identifications. ``When we
decided we would have to make a more accurate assessment, we discovered that
the bones used by forensic anthropologists for this very purpose weren't in
the body bag.''
Post mortem reports indicated the tribunal had removed routine samples for
DNA testing as well as ``other samples'' during work at its morgues in
Visoko, Bosnia, and in Urosevac, southern Kosovo.
These additional samples taken from each body were a rib, incisor teeth and
parts of the clavicle and pubic bone components that provide investigators
with critical clues about a person's age and sex.
The scientists say that by removing these parts the tribunal has undermined
the work of the Balkan organisations whose primary role is to identify
victims. In Kosovo neither of the two groups involved in identifications the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the UN mission's
Victim Recovery Identification Commission were notified in advance about the
research project.
Some scientists also argue that the research into identification techniques
by the tribunal forensic expert, Jose Pablo Baraybar, which was approved by
the tribunal's senior management, was invalid because results could not be
verified by cross-checking with victims' identities.
Mr Baraybar could not be contacted for comment. But a tribunal source said
on his behalf that the aim of the research was to develop a new system for
identifying age ranges of bodies.
``Jose's work, as far as I can see, is good work, and it's not harming
anyone,'' the source said. ``It's taking little tiny pieces of bone that
no-one would ever miss ... For each one of these people complaining, he's
probably had five anthropologists over the last two or three years who are
in full support of him.''
Mr Blewitt said: ``We believe we are conducting a legitimate forensic
exercise, part of which was aimed at identifying the victims of crimes that
we're investigating. That's the purpose of it.''
``Some of the age ranges were ridiculous, from 17 years to 70 years, for
example," said a commission worker. ``When we decided we would have to make
a more accurate assessment, we discovered that the bones used by forensic
anthropologists for this very purpose were not in the body bag."
Autopsy reports indicated the tribunal had removed routine samples for DNA
testing as well as ``other samples" during work at its morgues in Visoko,
Bosnia, and in Urosevac in southern Kosovo.
These additional samples taken from each body were a rib, incisor teeth, and
parts of the clavicle and pubic bone - components that provide investigators
with critical clues about a person's age and sex.
The scientists say that by removing these parts the tribunal has undermined
the work of the Balkan organisations whose primary role it is to identify
victims.
Members of a British team of experts working in Kosovo are said to have
complained fiercely about the removal of the body parts.
Some scientists also argue that the research into identification techniques
by the tribunal's forensic expert, Jose Pablo Baraybar, was invalid because
results could not be verified by cross-checking with victims' identities.
Some ``identified" bodies were exhumed in Kosovo last year with the consent
of relatives. However, these bodies had not been positively identified by
DNA, but just on relatives' hearsay.
``I think they basically just wanted an easy bank of samples on which to
build a research project," said one person familiar with the Kosovo
exhumations.
The tribunal is angry that the forensic experts have gone public with their
complaints, claiming that what amounts to professional rivalry is
distracting the tribunal from its work.
Some of the samples, taken from victims of the Srebrenica massacres, could
be returned relatively easily because exhumed remains are being stored above
ground in body bags in Tuzla, northern Bosnia. But re-interring other
samples in thousands of graves may prove expensive.
A tribunal source said on Mr Baraybar's behalf that the aim of the research
was to develop a new system for identifying age ranges of bodies. ``From my
discussions with (Mr Baraybar) and other anthropologists, it appears to be
bearing fruit," the source said.
He added: ``Jose's work as far as I can see is good work ... It's taking
little tiny pieces of bone that no one would ever miss ... For each one of
these people complaining he's probably had five anthropologists over the
last two or three years who are in full support of him."
C 2001 The Age
Bunfight Breaks Out At UN Tribunal Over Use Of Body Parts
Simon Mann
702 words
31 October 2001
Sydney Morning Herald
SMHH
14
English
Copyright of John Fairfax Group Pty Ltd
Claims of unethical practices are jolting the war crimes court, reports
Herald Correspondent Simon Mann in London.
A body parts controversy is embroiling the United Nations war crimes
tribunal in The Hague, with international forensic scientists outraged by
what they say are unethical practices involving samples taken from Balkans
graves.
The issue involves bone and tooth samples taken from thousands of victims of
the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. So far, the tribunal has kept the controversy
under wraps for fear that it could compromise its efforts in bringing war
criminals to justice.
The revelations come as the tribunal's most high-profile suspect, the former
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, returned to court on charges of
crimes against humanity, including mass murder in Kosovo and Croatia.
Graham Blewitt, the tribunal's Australian deputy prosecutor, called the body
parts controversy a professional ``bunfight''.
It centres on the tribunal's retention of bone and tooth samples used for
identifying the age of victims. The samples were collected during
exhumations in the Balkans over the past several years as part of a research
project being conducted by a senior tribunal forensic anthropologist.
However, experts from Europe and the United States who have worked for the
tribunal on secondment say the samples did not need to be kept in The Hague
and fear that many will be unable to be returned to their correct graves.
They say some samples were taken from bodies that had been presumptively
identified, without the consent of relatives, and that keeping the samples
contravenes the Muslim customs of many victims.
One scientist, who asked not to be identified, said: ``I try to be
supportive of the tribunal whenever possible ... but they really do have a
major problem on their hands.''
Some staff working for the International Commission for Missing Persons in
Bosnia only became aware that the tribunal was removing the samples when
they tried to narrow down the tribunal's estimates of the age of individual
victims pulled from mass graves around Prijedor.
``Some of the age ranges were ridiculous: from 17 years to 70 years, for
example,'' said a commission worker involved in identifications. ``When we
decided we would have to make a more accurate assessment, we discovered that
the bones used by forensic anthropologists for this very purpose weren't in
the body bag.''
Post mortem reports indicated the tribunal had removed routine samples for
DNA testing as well as ``other samples'' during work at its morgues in
Visoko, Bosnia, and in Urosevac, southern Kosovo.
These additional samples taken from each body were a rib, incisor teeth and
parts of the clavicle and pubic bone components that provide investigators
with critical clues about a person's age and sex.
The scientists say that by removing these parts the tribunal has undermined
the work of the Balkan organisations whose primary role is to identify
victims. In Kosovo neither of the two groups involved in identifications the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the UN mission's
Victim Recovery Identification Commission were notified in advance about the
research project.
Some scientists also argue that the research into identification techniques
by the tribunal forensic expert, Jose Pablo Baraybar, which was approved by
the tribunal's senior management, was invalid because results could not be
verified by cross-checking with victims' identities.
Mr Baraybar could not be contacted for comment. But a tribunal source said
on his behalf that the aim of the research was to develop a new system for
identifying age ranges of bodies.
``Jose's work, as far as I can see, is good work, and it's not harming
anyone,'' the source said. ``It's taking little tiny pieces of bone that
no-one would ever miss ... For each one of these people complaining, he's
probably had five anthropologists over the last two or three years who are
in full support of him.''
Mr Blewitt said: ``We believe we are conducting a legitimate forensic
exercise, part of which was aimed at identifying the victims of crimes that
we're investigating. That's the purpose of it.''
Questions
Questions
1. Had the international and local staffs that had been engaged to work
for ICTY during the period of time that the body parts and artifacts were
taken been notified that they would be contributing to a project that they
might have concerns for moral, religious, legal or professional reasons.
Thus giving them knowledge to make an informed decision to join the teams or
not..
2. Had the countries that supplied the seconded or non- seconded workers
been informed of the project so that if their countries had moral or ethical
etc objections to the taking of body parts and artifacts they could make an
informed decision to consent to send staff or funding?
3. I would like to have the complete project proposal, which should have
included a discussion of religious considerations, ethics, protocols,
proposed standard operating procedures, job descriptions, review and
supervision policies and health, safety and risk assessments as well as the
value and need to conduct the research project. This should have been
approved in a written format, such as a contract, a letter or an email. It
would have the names of the individuals who signed off on it clearly printed
and under international accepted scientific practices, must have been
reviewed by a formal independent human subject's ethics committee as well as
a scientific panel created by the UN.
4. The UN as a supervising/employing body would have been required to
have been signed off on it, as well. I should like to have copies of those
documents as well. In addition, the written and standing protocol as well as
all of the rules and standard operating procedures and job descriptions of
the UN to conduct such research as was conducted The ICTY team.
5. I would like copies of the original proposal, which should have had
an informed consent protocol along, with it and which should have included
an information sheet for "participants" or their surviving kin, explaining
exactly what would be done with the materials taken. Stating that the
material was not to be returned, including any harm being done potentially,
etc. as well as a form or letter where the relatives explicitly gave
permission for the work as described to be done.
6. Because of the status of FRY and the various geopolitical entities
involved, there should have been separate agreements made with each of the
populations involved as well as the governments. Can you arrange for access
to those agreements and proposals as well? There should be copies of the
standard operating procedures, discussion of religious considerations,
ethics protocols, proposed standard operating procedures. As well as reviews
and supervision policies as well as health, safety and risk assessments and
the value and need to conduct the research project.
7. Graham Blewitt made certain assertions that for that for every
complaint against the ICTY he had persons who supported the project. Please
produce these letters. I take it they are from people who are or were not
reliant on Mr Baraybar for employment or other financial remunerations and
are accredited and independent of Mr. Baraybar his schooling and employment.
Etc. and are accepted as mainstream in the forensic anthropology field as
experts and or expert witnesses. I mean in the article enclosed it refers to
a tribunal source. Does that mean a janitor or an anthropologist or someone
who played one on television?
8. What is the status of the all artifacts, and bone samples taken by Mr.
Baraybar taken for questionable scientific purposes and removed or stored in
Kosovo/Kosova as well as other locations and then allegedly returned to the
survivors and family's and or friends. According to statements made by ICTY
staff, all of the removed items have been returned to the families and or
relatives is this true?
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