FBI Director Louis J. Freeh today
announced that a team of 62 Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel--including
Special Agents, crime scene investigators, scientists, and forensic
experts--and four forensic specialist from the Armed Forces Institute
of Pathology (AFIP) have returned to Kosovo at the request of
the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
(ICTY). The ICTY formally requested the FBI and AFIP specialists
return to Kosovo through the Department of State and Department
of Justice pursuant to the authority found in Title 28, United
States Code, Section 533.
Director Freeh said "The personnel and their equipment were
flown in stages from Washington, D.C., to Macedonia aboard U.S.
Air Force aircraft. The contingent is scheduled to begin work
in Kosovo on more than a dozen sites including multiple common
graves and possible crime scenes. These sites are located in
the UK sector under the control of British and Canadian peace-
keeping group."
Freeh said the total FBI contingent in Kosovo will work on new
sites not mentioned in the previous indictment issued by the
tribunal from The Hague. These sites will require the team of
FBI and AFIP specialists to process crime scenes, undertake exhumations
and conduct field autopsies in an effort to identify the victims.
It is noted that the British/Canadian sector was the last area
under Serbian control. Information was developed concerning the
new sites by ICTY investigators and prosecutors during intervening
weeks since the first FBI deployment to Kosovo in June. The FBI
advance team reports that many of the sites will present unique
challenges. The sites are remote and will require substantial
efforts to locate and collect the evidence.
Freeh said that Special Agent-in-Charge(SAC) Roger A. Nisley
is in charge of the FBI contingent. SAC Nisley heads the Critical
Incident Response Group(CIRG) in Quantico, Virginia. He led the
initial FBI team on its first deployment to Kosovo. SAC Nisley
stated the current mission encompasses examination of the victims
through field autopsies conducted by the AFIP, and crime scene
work conducted by FBI Laboratory and Evidence Response Team (ERT)
specialists. The results of the FBI team's evidence gathering
and forensic examinations will be turned over to the ICTY upon
completion of the assignment. It is expected that the examination
of all sites will be completed within three weeks.
Additional information on the FBI contingent in Kosovo, may be
obtained from SSA Chris Whitcomb, CIRG, (540) 720-4944, or the
National Press Office, (202) 324-3691.
Kosovo - Sorting Clues from the Rubble