UNMIK/PR/833
Friday, 27 September 2002

OMPF Press Conference - 27th September 2002

At a press briefing today, Mr. Jose-Pablo Baraybar reviewed developments in the identification of missing persons and the activities, achievements and goals of the UNMIK Office on Missing Persons and Forensics, which he heads in the UNMIK Department of Justice.

Medical death certificates

Mr. Baraybar described the recent campaign to distribute medical death certificates, which began in 29 July, after the OMPF received autopsy results from ICTY. The OMPF visited 15 municipalities. To date, only 203 of the 910 were distributed due in part to lack of support from the families associations, Mr. Barybar said. They complained of misspellings, and a lack of precision concerning date of death and cause of death. As these bodies were exhumed months after burial, the doctor could not determine the exact date of death - he can only be sure of when the autopsy took place, Mr. Baraybar said.

The OMPF has offered to the family associations to change the "date of death" to reflect when each ICTY team finished their work on each site. The associations have not yet responded.

Exhumations

Since 1999, 4500 bodies of victims of the conflict have been recovered and approximately one-half have been identified, Mr. Baraybar said: "We are attempting to hit the target set by the SRSG of completing all new exhumations by Dec 31st, 2002. The season is drawing to a close, as we expect to be unable to exhume after the first week of December."

Mr. Baraybar said that more than 200 new individual graves remain to be exhumed, and that open investigations (some 50) could yield another 100 bodies, making the total estimated workload for this year approximately 300 bodies. These are mostly unidentified bodies from the conflict, buried in cemeteries. Next year, he said, about 1000 bodies, previously exhumed by ICTY, are to be re-exhumed to collect samples for DNA testing.

Mr. Baraybar also commented on recent allegations of new graves in the Orthodox cemetery in Orahovac and in Suva Reka. OMPF has confirmed no new graves or bodies have been found at these locations.

The Orahovac Morgue and Identifications

The OMPF has a fully functional morgue facility near Orahovac, where bodies are stored and examined. We have performed 200 autopsies this year, mostly on unidentified bodies. A total of 38 bodies have been identified - 23 Albanian and 15 Non-Albanian. Sixteen of those identifications have been performed with DNA testing in collaboration with ICMP.

Albanian bodies in Serbia

Based on an exhibition in Skenderaj (24-25 September) of photographs of clothing and personal effects from mortal remains exhumed in Petrovo Selo (Serbia), it has been concluded that at least 18 sets of human remains may correspond to victims of the Izbice massacre whose bodies were taken to Serbia in April 1999. OMPF shall make this information available to its Serbian counterparts, he said.

Consolidated List

OMPF will soon release a Consolidated List of Missing Persons, combining data from the ICRC and other organizations. There are 4700 records in UNMIK's list, but that number is expected to drop as data is 'cleaned,' he said.

Medical Examiners

An international board of examiners from Canada, South Africa, Italy and Poland were in Pristina this week to conduct examinations of Kosovo-Albanian candidates for posts in the new Medical Examiner's Office of Kosovo (the examination for the non-Kosovo Albanian candidates will take place in October). No candidates applied for the position and the posts remain vacant, Mr. Baraybar said: "This situation will hamper progress in accrediting Kosovo-Albanian experts to attend the exhumations and examinations conducted by Serbian experts on alleged Kosovo-Albanian bodies in Serbia (Batajnica)."

Plans for the new Medical Examiner's Office building in Kosovo Polje have been completed, and construction should begin this year, he said. Facilities include an autopsy suite, histology and toxicology laboratories, a 24-hour rape crisis centre, medical teaching resources, and offices for doctors and residents.

Extortion

A big problem in Kosovo today is the extortion of families, by people offering information on missing family members in exchange for money or services. This has become increasingly common, with both Serbs and Albanians extorting their kinsmen as well as members of the other ethnic group, said Mr. Baraybar. The OMPF has not heard of a single case in which money has yielded information on a missing person. OMPF will promote the adoption of a collective stand against this extortion, which victimizes the vulnerable and stands in the way of the truth.