Forensic Anthropology and the Most Probable Cause of Death in Cases of Violations Against International Humanitarian Law: An Example from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

This study presents the results of the analysis of at least 298 predominantly male individuals, between 15 and 75 years, who were recovered from an open cast mine in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Particular attention is paid to identifying the mechanisms of injury and determination of the most probable cause of death based on the assessment of lethal or lethal-if-untreated injuries recorded in the skeleton. It was calculated that at least 38.9% (155/398) of individuals sustained gunshot wounds (GSWs) (plus one shrapnel wound) and may have died as consequence of these injuries. Among individuals who died from GSWs, there were 142 males (91.60%), eight females (5.1%) and five cases that were (3.2%) undetermined. One male individual sustained shrapnel injuries. This study presents an example of the multidisciplinary approach to the effective forensic investigation of violation against International Humanitarian Law, as well as an example of how it is possible to obtain meaningful results to assist the needs of the prosecution in these kind of cases despite the large number of cases and technological constraints.

Variation of gunshot injury patterns in mortality associated with human rights abuses and armed conflict: an exploratory study

“…The cases from Bosnia include some of the sites associated to the Srebrenica (1995) [18] massacre as well as, ethnic cleansing in North West Bosnia (1992) [15]. Pathologists in collaboration with anthropologists hired by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) between 1997 and 2001 prepared autopsy reports.…”

The warriors of the steppes: osteological evidence of warfare and violence from Pazyryk tumuli in the Mongolian Altai

“…For violence-related traumatic lesions, the location and description of injuries were assessed to relate these to specific weapons, taking into account the aforementioned weaponry of the Scythian period (Larsen, 1997;Lovell, 1997). Interpretation of the most probable cause and manner of death, based on the assessment of lethal injuries recorded in the skeletons, was also undertaken (Baraybar and Gasior, 2006;DiMaio and DiMaio, 2001;Pinheiro, 2006).…”

The processing of skeletonized human remains found in Berlin, Germany

“…While identification is generally not possible, the characteristic features of remains may permit determination of gender and estimation of age, and sometimes causes of death. 3,4 Dental identification has also been successfully undertaken 5 and international guidelines for odontological identifications have been established. 6 Radiographic studies may also be used to confirm identification if pre-existing medical and/ or X-ray records are still available.…”