Human rights group Amnesty International warned on Wednesday that the bodies may never be identified unless professional forensic experts carry out the exhumations. The bodies, allegedly discovered in the Mount Darwin area early last month, have been shown on Zimbabwean television being bundled into plastic bags and old sacks to await re-burial. Amnesty International said that this treatment of the remains increases the risk that evidence of serious human violations could be lost.
This is a crime scene and exhumations require professional forensic expertise to enable adequate identification, determination of cause of death and criminal investigations, said Simeon Mawanza, a senior Amnesty International researcher. He told SW Radio Africa that professional handling of the site will not only help with investigations in the deaths, but will also allow families of the victims closure.
Families of the victims expect the bodies to be identified and to be given decent burials in line with traditional and religious practice. As such, these bodies cannot simply be consigned to history without proper forensic tests to determine who they are and how and why they died, Mawanza said.
Since last month the states ZBC televisions news has reported on the exhumations of hundreds of bodies from a site in Chibondo Mine. ZBC has claimed that the bodies are those of people killed by the Rhodesian forces in the 1970s. This is despite many pictures of the bodies clearly showing that some of the remains are fresh. Some of the bodies still had remnants of flesh and were still in stages of decomposition, suggesting the deaths were more recent than was being claimed.
The exhumations were initially carried out by members of the Fallen Heroes Trust, a group linked to Robert Mugabes ZANU PF party. Government officials have since taken over and late last month ZANU PFs co-Minister of Home Affairs, Kembo Mohadi, confirmed the government was now in control of the site.
We are concerned that, given the scale of human remains discovered so far and the failings of the government to immediately secure the site, that international best practice on exhumations is not being adhered to, Mawanza said. He added that the government must ensure that the exhumations are professionally conducted according to international standards to properly establish cause of death, ensure proper identification and, where possible, to return remains to family members.
Mawanza continued that the mishandling of these mass graves has serious implications on potential exhumations of other sites in Zimbabwe, including the remains of victims of the Gukurahundi genocide. He agreed that there is a serious need for transparency moving forward with the exhumations, to ensure there are proper investigations into the crimes.
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