Mass burial in Izium: Law enforcers could not identify 57 bodies
Members of the Ukrainian law enforcement were not able to identify 57 victims from the mass burial in the outskirts of the city of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast.
Source: Dmytro Chubenko, spokesperson of the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office, in a commentary for Ukrinform news agency
Quote: "Sadly, we did not manage to identify 57 people. There is personal information of 58 more persons but no relatives to provide material for a DNA test.
While examining the exhumed bodies the experts have detected gunshot wounds on 15 victims, blast injuries on 87, signs of torture on at least 15 bodies (they were mainly found with hands tied and ropes around their necks), 23 had fractured jaws, skulls, arms and ribs."
Details: Chubenko added that during the investigation, members of law enforcement agencies, jointly with forensic experts, have examined the burial site over 100 times; 450 different examinations were arranged to establish the causes of death, presence of injuries and special features that may help to identify the victims.
Over 20 victims have various body parts fractured, and 15 were shot.
Background:
- Russian troops fled from Izium on 10 September 2022, leaving a lot of military equipment.
- On 15 September, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that after the de-occupation of Izium, mass graves with victims were discovered in the city.
- On 23 September, the exhumation of those murdered by the Russian occupiers from a mass burial was completed in the liberated city of Izium in Kharkiv Oblast; a total of 447 bodies, including children, were exhumed.
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