The Government Commission on Missing Persons has published a report on excavations carried out at three sites in the municipality of Zubin Potok, where human remains belonging to at least 23 people were recovered.
Të lidhura
None found
The Commission’s chairman, Agron Limani, said the search for missing persons in this area had begun earlier, while concrete results were achieved during August.
According to Limani, the remains of 13 people were identified at the first site in Kalludër, four sets of human remains were found at the second site in Jabukë, while six more were recorded at the third site in Kalludër. He said that 23 people have been identified so far and that the exhumation process has been successfully completed.
Kushtrim Gara, a representative of the Government Commission on Missing Persons, presented a chronological account of the fieldwork.
He explained that the case concerns three mass grave sites in the northern, specifically northwestern, part of the Republic of Kosovo, within the territory of the municipality of Zubin Potok. The area includes the villages of Dren, Kalludër, Jabukë and Çrepulë, located in the southeastern part of the municipality.
According to Gara, field activities lasted nearly four weeks, while the first site was confirmed on July 27.
Regarding the first site in Kalludër, he said that at least 13 individuals, namely 13 forcibly disappeared victims, were established to be present.
Gara announced that on July 27, bone fragments and pieces of clothing were recorded at a place known as “Mëlleja” in the village of Kalludër. According to him, the remains had partially surfaced due to erosion and soil movement.
Following authorization from the prosecutor handling the case at the Prosecutor’s Office’s War Crimes Department, forensic operations began at the site on July 28. Forensic experts confirmed that same day that the location was a mass grave, Gara said.
He said systematic excavations began on July 30. The mass grave was divided into segments in order to accurately record, locate and document the human remains.
As the area under examination expanded and further remains were discovered, the minimum number of individuals was gradually updated in line with the findings in the field, Gara said.
During the process, he said, it was established that the first location was not a primary grave and that the remains of all 23 people could not have been located there.
The second site in Jabukë was confirmed on August 2, while excavations at that location began a day later.
Gara said that by the completion of work on August 3, the remains of four people had been found and exhumed. They were subsequently sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for further forensic examinations and relevant procedures.
The excavations and exhumations were carried out by experts from the Institute of Forensic Medicine, together with EULEX experts engaged within the Institute. The Government Commission on Missing Persons, Kosovo Police and other institutions provided support during the process.
He stressed that the investigations also focused on the case known as the “Group of Intellectuals.”
According to Gara, the operation focused on people forcibly disappeared from this area or those last seen there. This includes the case of the “Group of Intellectuals,” involving 23 compatriots from the municipalities of Mitrovica and Skenderaj, who were abducted and disappeared while travelling from the village of Koshtovë in the municipality of Skenderaj to Montenegro, between the villages of Dren, Kalludër and Jabukë, around April 19, by military forces of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The findings and information secured at this stage conditionally link this process to the “Group of Intellectuals” case, but the identity of each person must be further established through DNA analysis, Gara said.
He added that alongside these actions, investigative, operational and forensic work has continued to locate other possible sites.
Human remains of at least 23 people were found at the three excavation sites in Kalludër and Jabukë. Individual identification is expected to continue through forensic examinations and DNA analysis.
