Objective: To evaluate the contribution of forensic research to the discovery and analysis of mass graves of victims of the Yugoslav People’s Army and Serbian paramilitaries at Ovčara, near Vukovar, and to the identification of exhumed victims as missing persons who were forcibly removed from Vukovar Hospital on 20 November 1991. Methods: We analysed official international documentation and transcripts from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Data on causes of death and injury classifications were derived from autopsy reports and their interpretation by a forensic specialist. Identification of individuals was based on a report by a representative of the Commission on Detainees and Missing Persons. Results: Scientific and expert evidence from forensic research of the Ovčara mass grave shows that 198 male and 2 female bodies (one of a pregnant woman) in civilian clothes were exhumated from the site, with an average age of 32.5 years, including 3 minors. The determined manner of death for all 200 exhumed bodies was homicide, and the cause of death for 95% of the victims was a gunshot wound to a vital part of the body, in 67% of cases to the head. Traces of medical treatment and hospital workwear were found on 53% of the victims. 96% of the bodies were positively identified, 46.5% using classical forensic methods, and 49.5% by DNA analysis. Most of the victims were Croatian nationals of the Catholic faith. Conclusion: Forensic analysis and identification confirmed that the war crime victims exhumed from the Ovčara mass grave were listed as missing persons who disappeared from Vukovar Hospital. Their murder was used as relevant evidence of planned ethnic cleansing in court.

Aim: To determine whether there is sexual dimorphism of lip prints’ morphological features in the Croatian population and to provide a scoping review for the accuracy of sex estimation on lip prints. Methods: The study on the Croatian population included 88 male and 88 female (median age 25, range 18 - 50) participants. Lip prints were analyzed by quadrant, and then the predominant pattern on the entire lip was observed. A systematic search of the relevant bibliographical databases was conducted, including Medline, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), and Cinahl (October 23rd, 2020). OpenGrey, Open Science Framework, and Science.gov databases were searched for grey literature. Findings were reported in the narrative form in accordance with the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. A total of 80 studies were included. Results: The study of sexual dimorphism of lip prints in the Croatian population showed that there were no statistically significant differences between males and females; and when all quadrants were considered together (χ2 = 3.625, P = 0.459), sex could be estimated for only 55.7% of persons. Twenty-nine studies (36.3%) did not find differences between males and females, and 34 (42.5%) found sexual dimorphism only in some of the lip parts and some quadrants. The assessment of examined studies showed that only six studies met all quality criteria. Conclusion: There is no forensically significant sexual dimorphism in lip prints in the Croatian population. The scoping review showed that sex estimation using lip prints should not be used as evidence in court as the present methodology is not reliable and the potential rate of error is unknown.