Gara: Excavations in Kalludër Expected to End This Week, DNA Analyses to Begin Afterwards

Excavations, the assessment and exhumation of human remains in Kalludër, Zubin Potok, could be completed this week, Kushtrim Gara of the Government Commission on Missing Persons told RTK.

According to him, this is the fourth week of fieldwork, while the teams are currently working at the third site suspected of being a mass grave.

“In terms of excavating, assessing and exhuming the human remains, it is a matter of days—if not today, then tomorrow, that is, during this week. However, in terms of completing the process as a whole, there is first the examination of the remains, followed by DNA analysis, which involves laboratory testing carried out together with international partners and will take some time,” Gara said.

He explained that once the field operations are completed, the human remains will undergo examination and genetic testing in cooperation with international partners.

Gara stressed that Kosovo’s institutions would give priority to all actions within their remit and that could be carried out by local experts.

“But what is important is that everything within the capabilities and competencies of Kosovo’s institutions, and in the hands of their experts, will be addressed as a priority and within optimal time frames,” he said.

Suspicions that the remains of people who went missing during the war in Kosovo were present led to the excavations being carried out in this part of Zubin Potok.

Several weeks ago, a number of areas in this zone were identified as potentially being mass graves.

After the analyses are completed and the remains are potentially identified, the Government Commission on Missing Persons will inform the victims’ families, Gara said.

The families will then decide on the date and place of reburial, as well as whether they want the information about the process to be made public.