Kabul/Geneva
(ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has participated in the handover of remains that are thought to be those of members of the Russian crew killed in a helicopter crash
in Shah Wali Kot, in the Kandahar province of southern Afghanistan, in December 2006.
The ICRC was requested by both the armed opposition in the area and the Russian authorities to act
in its capacity as a neutral intermediary to facilitate the process that resulted in the recovery and handover of the remains.
The head of the ICRC delegation in Afghanistan, Reto Stocker,
stressed that “the handover went ahead without conditions and on exclusively humanitarian grounds.” The ICRC has been working in Afghanistan since 1987.
It has repeatedly served
as a neutral and independent intermediary in connection with prison riots and hostage releases, and has also helped to arrange the collection of human remains from the battlefield, allowing families
to complete their mourning.
For further information, please contact:
Graziella Leite Piccolo, ICRC Kabul, tel: +93700 282 719
Carla Haddad, ICRC Geneva, tel :+41 22 730 24
05 or +41 79 217 32 26
U.S. Staff Sergeant Dustin Brueggemann from the 2nd Brigade combat team, 82nd Airborne Division listens to residents during a patrol in Baghdad's Adhamiya district January 5, 2008. David Matsuda, an anthropology ...
