November 4, 2008, Lima, Peru – The bodies of three civilians, victims of a 1985 massacre perpetrated by Peruvian soldiers in the village of Accomarca, were recently exhumed by their families and judicial authorities, according to an article published by Inter-Press Service.

Between Oct. 20 and Oct. 25, bodies thought to be the remains of Agustin Chavez, Seferino Baldeon and Filomeno Chuchon were exhumed from two clandestine graves. The men were among the 69 people killed by army patrol soldiers in August 1985 during one of the many bloody incidents of Peru’s 20-year “dirty war” against guerilla groups.

So far, 36 bodies have been recovered from the Accomarca massacre. The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF), a partner of The Advocacy Project, has been asked to help identify the remains.

The three recent exhumations were the last to be carried out by judicial order. There will be no more, because relatives do not know precisely where victims are buried, or because some bodies are thought to be irrecoverable.

So far, the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) in Lima has not identified any of the remains found this year, although the judicial branch has requested several times that it perform the necessary DNA studies. Relatives of the victims have asked EPAF to help collect samples and send them to laboratories in the United States for DNA analysis.