Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told 13 above). Although this may have been an attempt to conceal the evidence of the killings, it also contaminates wells for residents who rely on them for their water supply. On other occasions, the corpses themselves were tampered with. Many interviewees report that bodies of 14 had been mutilated, for example by cutting off extremities. In other cases, victims of killings were put in different clothing (identifiable, for example, by discrepancies between holes in clothing and bullet wounds.) Regardless of motivation, they make posthumous identification difficult. Gravesites themselves were also tampered with. In one well-documented case, Serbian forces removed bodies from a make-shift cemetery in Izbica/Izbice (Srbica) where local villagers had buried approximately 150 victims, after the existence of the gravesite had been confirmed by NATO and by a videotape of the burial process made public to international news sources. The Serbian forces took the bodies to an unknown location. Villagers, desperate for a place to mourn the dead, replaced the grave markers over the now-empty graves (see Part V, entry for Srbica municipality). In Staro Cikatovo/ Cikatove e Vjeter (Glogovac), Serbian forces returned three days after 24 men had been killed and removed the bodies from the gardens where relatives had buried the bodies themselves. They used excavators to break down the walls of the family compounds in order for the machinery to be able to access the graves. As is the case for relatives of missing persons, the anguish of those whose loved ones were killed is exacerbated when they do not have a place to mourn the dead. Notes 1 Cases mentioned here are also featured, with citations, in the relevant entires in Part V of this report. 2 There were also a large number of inexplicable killings not consistent with a general pattern, of both Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, which may have been common criminal acts rather than connected to the security crisis. These also contributed to the general climate of fear, and were often still attributed to one or other side to the conflict. It should also be noted that vendetta type killings and family blood feuds have been prevalent in Kosovo for hundreds of years. Although blood feuds have declined over the years they do still play a part in Kosovo society. 3 See 1977 Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, Article 32. 4 "Whenever circumstances permit, and particularly after an engagement, all possible measures shall be taken, without delay, to search for the dead, prevent their being despoiled, and decently dispose of them." (1977 Geneva Protocol II, Article 8). The responsibilities for treatment of the dead are also articulated in international humanitarian law applicable in situations of international armed conflict. See in particular 1949 Geneva http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch5.htm (14 of 15)12/5/2003 11:50:53 AM