Skeletal Trauma: Identification of Injuries Resulting from Human Rights Abuse and Armed Conflict

530 Pages·2008·32.18 MB·English

by  Erin H. Kimmerle

SKELETAL
TRAUMA
IDENTIFICATION OF INJURIES RESULTING FROM
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND ARMED CONFLICT
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SKELETAL
TR AUMA
IDENTIFICATION OF INJURIES RESULTING FROM
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND ARMED CONFLICT
Erin H. Kimmerle
José Pablo Baraybar
Boca Raton London New York
CRC Press is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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CRC Press
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International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑8493‑9269‑6 (Hardcover)
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Kimmerle, Erin H.
Skeletal trauma : identification of injuries resulting from human rights abuse and armed conflict /
Erin H. Kimmerle and Jose Pablo Baraybar.
p. ; cm.
“A CRC title.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978‑0‑8493‑9269‑6 (alk. paper)
1. Forensic osteology. 2. Musculoskeletal system‑‑Wounds and injuries. 3. Human rights‑‑Health
aspects. 4. War victims‑‑Yugoslavia. 5. Torture victims‑‑Yugoslavia. I. Baraybar, Jose Pablo. II. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Forensic Anthropology. 2. Bone and Bones‑‑injuries. 3. Human Rights Abuses. 4.
Violence. 5. War Crimes. W 750 K49s 2008]
RA1059.K56 2008
614’.17‑‑dc22 2007034506
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
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and the CRC Press Web site at
http://www.crcpress.com
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I dedicate this book to my
family, Mike, and Sean.
E.H.K.
I dedicate this book
to Maite and Sofia
J.P.B.
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Contents
A Foreword by Andrew T. Cayley, Esq. ix
A Foreword by Morris Tidball-Binz, M.D. xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Abbreviations xxv
1 An Epidemiological Approach to Forensic Investigations
of Violations to International Humanitarian and Human
Rights Law 1
Case Study 1.1: Firefight in Lima: Wounded/Killed Ratio
Analysis of MRTA Casualties in the 1997 Hostage Rescue
Operation at the Japanese Embassy
By C.C. Snow, J.P. Baraybar, and H. Spirer 14
2 Differential Diagnosis of Skeletal Injuries 21
Case Study 2.1: Finite Element Models of the Human
Head in the Field of Forensic Science
By J.S. Raul, B. Ludes, and R. Willinger 87
3 Blast Injuries 95
Case Study 3.1: Skeletal and Soft Tissue Injuries Resulting
from a Grenade By A.B. Seneviratne 117
Case Study 3.2: A Case of Blasting Injury from Colombia
By J.M. Pachón 124
Case Study 3.3: “Human Bomb” and Body Trauma
By A. Samarasekera 128
4 Blunt Force Trauma 151
Case Study 4.1: The Interpretation of Skeletal Trauma
Resulting from Injuries Sustained Prior to, and as a Direct
Result of, Freefall By O. Finegan 181
vii
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viii Skeletal Trauma
Case Study 4.2: A Khmer Rouge Execution Method: Evidence
from Choeung Ek
By S.C. Ta’ala, G.E. Berg, and K. Haden 196
5 Skeletal Evidence of Torture 201
Case Study 5.1: Torture Sequels to the Skeleton
By H.P. Hougen 234
Case Study 5.2: Multiple Healed Rib Fractures: Timing
of Injuries with Regard to Death By T. Delabarde 236
Case Study 5.3: Dating of Fractures in Human Dry Bone
Tissue. The Berisha Case By G.J.R. Maat 245
Case Study 5.4: Torture and Extra-Judicial Execution
in the Peruvian Highlands: Forensic Investigation
in a Military Base By J.P. Baraybar, C.R. Cardoza,
and V. Parodi 255
6 Sharp Force Trauma 263
Case Study 6.1: Disappearance, Torture and Murder of Nine
Individuals in a Community of Nebaj, Guatemala
By S. Chacón, F.A. Peccerelli, L. Paiz Diez,
and C. Rivera Fernández 300
Case Study 6.2: Probable Machete Trauma
from the Cambodian Killing Fields By G.E. Berg 314
7 Gunfire Injuries 321
Case Study 7.1: Firearm Basics By C.J. Waters 385
8 Variation in Gunfire Wounds by Skeletal Region 401
Case Study 8.1: Tyranny and Torture in the Republic
of Panama By A.H. Ross and L. Suarez S. 438
Case Study 8.2: The Pacific War: A Chilean Soldier Found
in Cerro Zig Zag, Peru By E. Tomasto Cagigao
and M. Lund 441
References 449
Index 477
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A Foreword by Andrew T. Cayley, Esq.
SENIOR PROSECuTING COuNSEL AT THE INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COuRT AND FORMER SENIOR TRIAL
ATTORNEy OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL
TRIBuNAL FOR THE FORMER yuGOSLAvIA
On a warm September evening in 1999, in northeast Bosnia-Herzegovina, we were visiting
the most recently discovered mass grave linked to the events in Srebrenica of July 1995.
We were at Glogovac. José Pablo Baraybar was stripped to the waist and working in the
excavated site. We watched him as he gently recovered the mortal remains of one of the
thousands of victims of the genocide that had taken place in and around Srebrenica 4 years
before. From these human remains and the other items found in the mass graves evidence
would be recovered that became incontrovertible at the subsequent trial.
We led a substantial part of the forensic evidence at the trial of General Krstic, who
was charged with crimes in and around Srebrenica in July 1995. The revelations of the
human remains from Srebrenica left us all with a profound sense of shock and horror but
also the satisfaction that nobody could deny that these catastrophic events had really taken
place. Victims had been shot in the back of the head, victims had disabling injuries at the
time of death, and bodies had been robbed from the primary sites and reburied in much
more remote secondary locations in order to prevent discovery. Truth and condemnation
poured forth from the Bosnian soil and into the trial chamber.
As the Krstic trial judgment made clear, “The extensive forensic evidence presented
by the Prosecution strongly corroborates important aspects of the testimony of survivors
from the various execution sites …. Overall, the Trial Chamber finds that the forensic
evidence presented by the Prosecution provides corroboration of survivor testimony that,
following the take-over of Srebrenica in July 1995, thousands of Bosnian Muslim men
from Srebrenica were killed in careful and methodical mass executions.”
As this timely book demonstrates, skeletal remains reveal not just the causes of death
but also much about human suffering prior to death. The book is based on forensic analysis
carried out in the former Yugoslavia, South America, and Cambodia. It is written by two
experts in the field. Its future use by forensic practitioners, and prosecution and defense
lawyers, will ensure the maximum exploitation of human remains for the purposes of
proof in both domestic and international criminal prosecutions.
We owe respect to the living, to the dead we owe only the truth.
Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire
ix
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