BAY

The forensic doctor and Academic Director of the Forensic Sciences Expert Consultant, Virginia Creimer, spoke about the importance of the Forensic Anthropology Corps acting and the need to apply a special protocol to carry out the autopsy.

“Under no point of view should the autopsy performed on this body be carried out by a security force, it absolutely has to be carried out by the Nation’s morgue”, held in dialogue with C5N.

When asked if injuries can be found in a skeletonized corpse, the medical examiner stated that: “Each security force has its modus operandi to injure and kill, and due to the type of injuries they produce, they have an impact either on the soft parts or bone level. Therefore, it requires professionals who are trained to find injuries that may have been produced by a security force. “

The specialist emphasized the need to apply a special protocol to analyze the body found.

“The Minnesota Protocol must be applied by experienced people. This autopsy cannot be done by just any medical examiner, it has to be done by a doctor who is experienced in using that protocol”, claimed.

“The Minnesota Protocol is the one used in cases of deaths in custody or by security forces. It is an international protocol that has been modified over the years with which an interdisciplinary team works that looks for different injuries with different autopsy techniques to common techniques. It requires that there be a team of forensic, legal, psychological and imaging (photo and video recording), “he said.

What is the Minnesota Protocol?

He Minnesota Protocol It is a set of rules for investigating a potentially unlawful death, which establishes principles and guidelines for States, institutions and individuals participating in the investigation. It was established to complement the United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of extra legal, arbitrary or summary executions.

Your goal is “protect the right to life and promote justice, accountability and the right to redress by promoting effective investigation of any potentially unlawful death or suspected enforced disappearance “.

It was developed in the 1990s by international experts in forensic sciences, lawyers, experts in human rights and in other matters who developed the United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extralegal, Arbitrary or Summary Executions, known as the Minnesota Protocol because it was led by the Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights Committee.

It is an international reference that serves as a practical guide for investigating deaths that have occurred in suspicious circumstances. The manual recommends creating an independent commission with sufficient resources and the possibility of seeking help from international experts in legal, medical and forensic sciences.

It is used in cases where the State may be involved in the death and the results of the investigation may be partial.

The commission should have access to all the information necessary for the investigation, present a public report, prevent the burial or other disposition of the body until the autopsy is done, visit the place where the body was discovered and where the death may have occurred, and receive statements of witnesses and organizations outside the country.

According to the Protocol, the forensic doctor in charge of the autopsy must be part of the independent commission that conducts the investigation and must also have the appropriate training and experience to ensure the identity of the deceased and discover the cause and circumstances of his death. In the case of unknown circumstances, the forensic doctor uses the results of the autopsy to reconstruct them.

The post-autopsy report can be used by authorities to determine whether the deceased was assaulted or tortured and whether the injuries caused or contributed to his death. If the coroner considers that some injuries were the result of torture or if a group of them indicates ill-treatment, it is his obligation to present that opinion in writing.