Mass Graves in Zubin Potok, Gani Mehmeti: Serbia Is Playing with the Pain of Albanian Families

Following the completion of excavations and the exhumation of human remains, three mass graves have been confirmed in Kalludër e Vogël and Jabukë in Zubin Potok.

The Government Commission on Missing Persons announced that the remains of 23 people who were forcibly disappeared during the war in Kosovo had been discovered at these locations.

The next step is to send the remains to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for forensic examinations, while the victims’ identities will be established through DNA analysis. Once the procedures have been completed, the families will be officially informed.

Political analyst Gani Mehmeti told “Bota sot” that Serbia is avoiding efforts to uncover the fate of those killed during the 1999 war in Kosovo.

According to Mehmeti, this conduct is linked to political interests, while the issue of missing persons is part of the 2016 agreement reached within the Kosovo–Serbia dialogue on locating and uncovering mass graves containing Albanians.

He recalled that NATO’s bombing of Serbian military and police targets during the 1999 war led to the 1999 Kumanovo Agreement and the withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo. Mehmeti expressed the gratitude of the people of Kosovo to NATO, the United States and all other NATO member states. According to him, after the war and the arrival of UNMIK, Serbia retained considerable influence in Kosovo.

Mehmeti claims that Serbia is deliberately avoiding the discovery of the bodies of those killed during the war, using the issue as a political tool and as a means of exerting pressure on the families, Kosovo and the international community.

He accused Serbia not only of failing to cooperate in uncovering the fate of missing persons, but also of obstructing the process. According to him, this became evident after the discovery of three graves in Zubin Potok, when Serbian President Aleksandër Vuçiq downplayed the event and focused on the case of Rashkoviq, who claims that he was mistreated by the Kosovo police.

The analyst said that information presented by Serbia cannot be trusted because, according to him, the Serbian authorities are known for staging incidents that serve their interests.

Referring to statements by Kosovo’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sfeçla, Mehmeti stressed that Vuçiq is trying to divert attention from the discovery of the three mass graves and 71 long guns and other weapons by shifting the focus to Rashkoviq. He added that the Kosovo police are investigating the case, as they should.

However, Mehmeti questioned why Serbia needs the bodies of the Albanians who were killed and who, according to him, have been kept hidden for a full 27 years by Serbian military and police units. He stressed that the victims were civilians and posed no threat to anyone, and that their remains should therefore be returned to their families so they can commemorate them with a flower as a sign of love, loss and longing.

Mehmeti also criticized the silence of the international community, calling on it to become more actively involved and impose conditions on Serbia to ensure that the fate of all missing persons is fully clarified.

According to him, Serbia is exploiting the issue to spread disinformation among the international public and Kosovo’s partners, with the aim of turning them against Kosovo. However, he believes that the international community is now well acquainted with Serbia’s true nature and that its actions can only serve to expose it.

The analyst concluded that the EU and Western countries must hold Serbia accountable and compel it to cooperate fully until all the bodies of Albanians missing from their families and from Kosovo are found. He stressed that no further games should be allowed with the feelings of Albanians and the pain endured by families over their missing relatives.