Lincoln students exhume bodies in Guatemala - and the evidence will be used in war crime probe

Lincoln students exhume bodies in Guatemala - and the evidence will be used in war crime probe

By Lincolnshire Echo | Posted: July 11, 2015
By Chris Hall

Lincoln students have exhumed seven bodies on a work experience placement – and their evidence will be used in a Central American war crimes investigation. Their experience involved an 11,500-mile round trip to Guatemala, where they dug up the remains of seven people murdered during the country's armed conflict more than 30 years ago.

The 15 University of Lincoln postgraduates – led by their programme leader, who spent six years working in the troubled country – trekked high into the mountains to carry out their grim task at known burial sites. The two-week assignment saw the forensic anthropology team unearth and pass on the skeletal remains to the current Guatemalan government.

The whole exercise was co-ordinated by Gillian Fowler, who is senior lecturer in the university's School of Life Sciences, accompanied by forensic anthropology technician Marco Perez. The pair worked together uncovering graves containing innocent victims of the uprising against the 1980s military dictatorship.

They helped the Lincoln students - who are studying on the MSc forensic anthropology course which the University of Lincoln uniquely offers at Masters level - exhume the graves of a grandfather executed by soldiers during the brutal conflict, which lead to thousands of people going missing. Moving to another remote location, they spent three days digging trenches to uncover six more bodies. They had been shot and thrown into the mass grave with their hands tied.

Read more: http://www.lincolnshireecho.co.uk/Lincoln-students-exhume-bodies-Guatemala-evidence/story-26863352-

(Extremely right-wing government, as we know, supported enthusiastically by Ronald Reagan, and funded by U.S. taxpayers.)