Press Release Nº 117

During a ceremony with Andean Rituals
THIS FRIDAY THE RECOVERED REMAINS AT THE GRAVES OF TOTOS ARE TO BE HANDED OVER.

On Friday, September 6th, the Joint Work Platform for the Investigation of Mass Graves, including the Prosecutor’s Office, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Ombudsman’s Office and the Human Rights National Coordinator, will hand over to their families the remains of the seven people recovered during the exhumation of the graves of Sancaypata and Ccarpacassa, located in the village of Totos, province of Cangallo, department of Ayacucho.
Last August 26th, the procedure of exhuming the remains of seven people presumably assassinated by members of the Peruvian Army in 1983 started. Thirteen forensic experts from the Prosecutor’s Office and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission participated.
The exhumation process lasted three days and was carried out at the village of Totos. The analysis of the remains will last six days and is taking place at the mobile morgue in the city of Huamanga. It is foreseen that today Wednesday and tomorrow Thursday, the relatives of the victims will come to the morgue in order to support the forensic experts in identifying the clothing found beside the bones.
The process of analyzing the remains is long and detailed, requires maximum dedication from the forensic experts. It starts with cleaning the recovered remains, both bones and clothing. Immediately afterwards, the remains are submitted to X-rays, and then there is an inventory and an individualization of each one of them. Once this stage has concluded, the process of describing the injuries and determining the cause of death is carried out, and dental X-rays and an inventory of the clothing are taken, with the valuable physical recognition of same as part of the process of identification.

Lima, September 4th, 2002

Office of Communications and Public Impact