Reference :
V-P-XZ-E-00034
Date :
29/06/2014
Caption :
Rezallë/Rezala. Lejla Rukolli plays with found bird feathers at her family home that had been commandeered and burnt down by Serb forces during the Kosovo armed conflict of 1998-99. Lejla's uncle, who she never knew, went missing 15 years ago during the event which occurred along the main road in the village of Rezallë/Rezala. According to the villagers, on the 5th of April 1999, Serbian soldiers entered the village and separated women from the men; the women were forced to leave the village on foot, while the men were killed. Thirty-seven persons have been reported as unaccounted for in relation to this event.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
In December 2013, a gravesite in Rudnica, Raska, Southern Serbia, was located in an old quarry, after years of search. The site was discovered thanks to the joint efforts of relevant stakeholders within the frame of the ICRC chaired Working Group on Missing Persons. Satellite images from the period of March - June 1999 shared within that mechanism were of critical relevance to determining the location of the site. Fifty-two (52) sets of human remains and a number of body parts belonging to persons who went missing during the 1998-99 Kosovo armed conflict were exhumed between December and June 2014. Forensic experts from the Kosovo Department of Forensic Medicine, EULEX (European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo), ICMP (International Commission on Missing Persons) and ICRC participated to and oversaw, as active observers, the works carried out at the site under the authority of the Serbian War Crimes prosecution. Between August and October 2014 all remains were handed over to EULEX on three separate occasions.
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
4000x2667
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
