By Daria Sito-Sucic
SARAJEVO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Bosnia's war crimes researchers presented on Tuesday an 'atlas of war crimes' from the country's 1992-95 war, saying it should help people learn about facts and better understand the past.
The atlas, available on www.idc.org.ba, contains maps that use Google Earth technology, allowing readers to find sites of mass executions and mass graves across Bosnia, along with the names of the victims, as well as available court documentation.
It was launched on the day when Bosnian Serb ex-leader Radovan Karadzic, accused of being the mastermind of the war, appeared before the Hague war crimes tribunal, temporarily giving up the boycott of his trial.
"The Bosnian war crimes atlas is a comprehensive depository of facts about war events," said Mirsad Tokaca, the director of the Research and Documentation Centre (RDC), a Sarajevo-based organisation that created the digital atlas.
"It is needed to help us face the past, a process which until now has been under the monopoly of various elites for their own purposes," Tokaca told a news conference, saying the atlas has provided only bare facts, without interpretation.
The atlas has identified 50,000 geographic sites where war atrocities took place, accompanied with photos and video-clips of the events.
"We do not suggest to anyone what they should think. We offer the facts about events -- what we call a geography of the crimes," Tokaca said.
BLOW TO NUMBER MANIPULATION
The atlas can be used as an interactive tool for students, media, researchers, prosecutors and anyone keen to learn about the Bosnian war. Its creation is an open-ended process and will be complemented with more facts as they are found, Tokaca said.
"With this atlas, we are striking a deadly blow to those who are playing with numbers," said Tokaca, who had been criticised for a project in 2005 that put the number of people killed in the war at about 100,000 -- only a half of the previous figure.
At the time, Bosnian Muslim politicians and academics complained that the figure was too low even though the Muslims still accounted for most of the victims.
"We have not ignored anyone's ethnic or religious affiliation but we have ignored the divisions along ethnic or religious lines," Tokaca said.
Karadzic, who had boycotted his trial since it began last week and demanded more time to prepare his defence, has denied 11 charges against him, including genocide for the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
© 2009 Reuters
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