Independent forensic autopsies in an armed conflict: investigation of the victims from Racak, Kosovo

In January 1999, a team of Finnish forensic experts under the mandate of th e European Union (EU forensic expert team, EU-FET) performed forensic inves tigations in a sovereign state, in Kosovo, the Federal Republic of Yugoslav ia (FRY). The team served as a neutral participant in the forensic investig ation of victims of an incident at Racak, which was receiving considerable international attention. The Finnish team performed forensic autopsies, mon itored forensic autopsies performed by local experts and verified findings of earlier executed autopsies The victims had sustained varying numbers of gunshot wounds, which were established to be the cause of death. The manner of death remained undetermined by the EU-FET, because the scene investigat ion and the chain of custody for the bodies from the site of the incident t o the autopsy were impossible to verify by the team. The events at Racak we re the first of those leading to charges by the International Criminal Trib unal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) against the highest authorities in po wer in the FRY for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or cu stoms of war. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. Ail rights reserved.