Kosovo’s institutions have announced the completion of excavation work at three sites in the Kalludër and Jabukë areas of Zubin Potok. Human remains were discovered at these locations and are suspected of being connected to the 23 people who went missing during the war in Kosovo, known as the “Group of Intellectuals.”

Ten bone remains have so far been sent to the DNA laboratory in The Hague. A conclusion on whether they belong to missing persons will be reached only after all forensic examinations and genetic analyses have been completed.

Acting Minister for Labour, Family and the Values of the Liberation War, Andin Hoti, said the families of the missing are now closer to uncovering the truth and achieving justice. He called on them to wait until the procedures are completed.

Hoti said the families of the 23 missing people, also known as the group of intellectuals or the Ademi Ademi group, were going through a difficult day. Speaking also as a family member of a missing person, he stressed that they were closer to the truth and justice than ever before. According to him, four potentially criminal Serbian suspects have so far been arrested for allegedly participating in the crimes committed.

The minister added that more than 1,500 families continue to await information about the fate of their relatives, including his own family.

He explained that the samples taken in recent days from the remains found would be sent to The Hague, to the laboratory of the International Commission on Missing Persons. There, they will be compared with blood samples provided by family members over more than 20 years, before final identification is carried out.

Hoti stressed that DNA analyses are essential to establish whether the remains belong to the 23 missing people. He criticized Serbia for its lack of cooperation and said Serbian authorities continued to withhold information in their possession that could help clarify the fate of the missing.

According to him, Serbia still maintains a “criminal mindset,” which was not present only during the 1990s but continues today. Hoti mentioned attempts to organize state honors for Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladić, who committed crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the fact that the Serbian state does not acknowledge the guilt, crimes and genocide committed against Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia.

He recalled that the issue of missing persons had also been discussed in talks held over the years in Brussels. According to Hoti, Serbia’s classified archives remain closed despite requests for them to be made available.

Prosecutor Florije Shamolli said the case of the 23 missing people had been under investigation for seven years. She said the evidence and suspicions gathered had directed the investigation toward this group, but identification could not be confirmed without the results of DNA testing and other expert examinations.

Shamolli announced that three people are currently in pretrial detention as suspects, while additional evidence is needed for the proceedings to continue. She explained that the DNA, cause of death and other details concerning the human remains must be established.

The prosecutor urged family members not to trust unconfirmed information and to contact her office for any official updates. She said she would remain available until the case was concluded and that, if an indictment was filed, the trial would be public.

Agron Limani, head of the Government Commission on Missing Persons, described the discovery of the mass graves as the result of several years of work by Kosovo’s institutions, rather than an operation that began only during the past month.

Limani said the victims had not only been deprived of their right to live, but also of the possibility of having a grave where their families could remember them. According to him, for the families of the 23 people, the discovery of the remains could remove this second obstacle—the inability to commemorate them.

Florim Elshani, head of the Sector for the Investigation of Persons Missing During the War at the Directorate for the Investigation of War Crimes, said investigative work on the case had been conducted over a long period but had intensified particularly since 2024.

He explained that on November 27, the exact location of the first grave was determined. Only after the work began did teams of anthropologists, forensic doctors, archaeologists and forensic experts determine that the size and conditions of the grave could not correspond to such a large group of people.

According to Elshani, this finding led to an intensification of investigative efforts and the locating of the second grave. After two or three days, the third mass grave was also identified, from which at least 23 bodies or individual remains have so far been recovered.

Valon Hyseni of the Institute of Forensic Medicine said the completion of the excavations did not mark the end of the process. According to him, the main work was continuing in the laboratory, where the human remains were being examined, samples were being taken and sent for DNA analysis.

Hyseni confirmed that at least 10 bone remains had so far been transported to the DNA laboratory in The Hague. The first results are expected soon, and only afterward will it be possible to determine whom the remains belong to.

Kushtrim Gara, a member of the Government Commission on Missing Persons, said the site where the work was being carried out was the first mass-grave location. The other two sites are in the same area, while the third location is about 300 meters away and the second about 1 kilometer away as the crow flies, in the village of Jabukë.

Gara said the remains of 13 people, or at least 13 individuals, had been found and exhumed at the site. He explained that the official number would be determined by the Institute of Forensic Medicine after the forensic examinations and DNA identification had been completed.

Excavations in the two villages of Zubin Potok began on July 28, 2026.

Three people are being investigated in connection with the case: J.R., M.J. and M.B. They are suspected of the criminal offense of “War crimes against the civilian population” and are in pretrial detention.

About 1,560 people from the last war continue to be considered missing in Kosovo.

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The excavations being carried out in Zubin-Potok are linked to a complex and sensitive investigation into finding people who went missing during the war, the Special Prosecution said, urging the media not to publish unconfirmed information.

Arbnora Luta, a spokesperson for the institution, told the media that the case remains under investigation. According to her, the actions taken so far stem from years of investigative work by the Kosovo Police and the Special Prosecution.

Luta explained that, as part of the searches for missing persons, more than 10 exhumation orders have been issued to date. She stressed that the results cannot be made public before the entire investigative process has been completed.

According to the spokesperson, it is still too early at this stage to provide figures on the number of mortal remains believed to have been found at the location. She called for understanding and urged the avoidance of reports that have not been verified by the competent institutions, explaining that all necessary verifications and analyses must first be completed.

Luta added that the public and the media will be informed as soon as the legal conditions are met for publishing data from the investigative process. Until then, the Special Prosecution is asking that the integrity of the investigation be preserved, that the final result be awaited, and that the dignity of the victims and their family members be respected.

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Excavations in the village of Kalludër e Vogël in Zubin Potok have unearthed a mass grave containing bones and clothing believed to belong to 23 missing intellectuals from Mitrovica during the conflict. On Tuesday, the site was visited by Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Sveçla, head of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency Petrit Ajeti, and Minister of Local Government Elbert Krasniqi.

Speaking to the media after the inspection, Sveçla stressed that the discovery of this burial site came as a result of tireless work by security bodies and cooperation with residents. He added that law enforcement is pursuing several directions simultaneously, both on the excavation front and in the investigative one, with the aim of identifying and holding all perpetrators accountable.

The Minister of Internal Affairs stated that the government remains determined to continue searches until the fate of every forcibly disappeared citizen is clarified and justice is ensured for all victims. He concluded his statement with a pledge: “We will not stop until the last body of the missing person is found.”

Currently, competent teams are carrying out further excavations in the area, while authorities have confirmed that detailed investigations are underway to determine the identities of the deceased and to fully document the circumstances of this event.

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On Tuesday, law enforcement forces in Kosovo began exhumation work in a village in the northern part of the country, where a mass grave with human remains linked to the 1998-1999 war is suspected to exist.

Arbnora Luta, spokesperson for the Special Prosecution of Kosovo, confirmed that the operation was undertaken at the request of this institution and with permission issued by the Basic Court in Pristina.

According to subsequent information published by the Prosecution, the two individuals arrested on Tuesday in the Mitrovica area, citizens with the initials M.J. and M.B., are suspected of being involved in this war crimes case.

“The court decision is being implemented for the extraction, examination, and documentation of mortal remains at a specific location in the territory of Zubin Potok Municipality,” she said, adding that it is still early to speak about other details due to the active phase of the excavations.

In its statement, the Prosecution emphasized that the entire process is carried out in full respect of the court order and professional and international standards for victim identification and evidence collection, with the presence of responsible bodies and field specialists.

In a recent period, institutions have conducted excavations several times at various locations, uncovering remains believed to belong to missing persons from the last war in Kosovo.

Statistics show that around 13,000 people lost their lives during the 1998-1999 conflict, while more than 1,500 others are still considered missing. The majority of the victims were defenseless Albanians.

In 2023, Kosovo and Serbia reached an agreement on a Joint Declaration on Missing Persons, as part of EU-mediated normalization talks. It provided for unrestricted access to information, including classified data, the provision of essential documents to clarify the fate of the missing, and coordination through an EU-led commission.

Nevertheless, all these commitments remain on paper, as none of the agreed points have seen implementation in practice.

Earlier this year, the inaugural meeting of the Joint Commission for Missing Persons from the Kosovo war was organized, but it ended without any concrete progress.

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