On December 19-20, 2016, experts of the Department of Forensic Biology of the LEPL Levan Samkharauli National Forensic Bureau participated in forensic DNA working meetings together with colleagues from Croatia and Argentina. The two-day meetings were organized by the International Committee of Red Cross. The meetings were concluded by a visit to the Department of Forensic Biology of the National Forensic Bureau. The visiting experts unilaterally noted dignified service of Georgian colleagues and their compatibility to modern world leading Labs. At the round table, Georgian and the visiting colleagues discussed implemented and ongoing projects that track missing people as a result to the war in Georgia, and deliberated upon the five-year strategy and plans for the future implementation of these projects. The discussion included in-depth analysis of technical details of genetic and Anthropological forensic research – from sampling to defining genotypes, archiving and data base procedures.
Georgian, Croatian and Argentinian experts exchanged protocols on extracting DNA from bones, and agreed to publish joint scientific research. Experts of the Zagreb University, Department of Forensic Medicine and Criminology, and Forensic Anthropology Team of Argentina expressed their readiness to share knowledge and experience with Georgian colleagues at their home Labs.
Forensic National Bureau has been cooperating with International Committee of Red Cross, Zagreb University and Argentina’s Forensic Anthropology Team for years. Exhumation of diseased soldiers from the Brotherhood Cemetery of Abkhazia was implemented by Forensic Medicine experts of the Bureau and foreign Anthropology experts.