The Government Commission on Missing Persons has presented a report on excavations carried out at three sites in the municipality of Zubin Potok. Human remains were discovered at these locations, suspected to belong to at least 23 people.

Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced that at the first excavation site, in a mass grave in Kalludër, the remains of 13 people were found and recovered.

In Jabukë, the second location, remains suspected to belong to at least four people were found. Meanwhile, at the third site in Kalludër, the remains of at least six people were discovered and exhumed.

According to Kurti, the process has now entered the identification stage. Samples taken from the remains suspected to belong to four people in Jabukë have been sent for DNA analysis, while the Institute of Forensic Medicine is continuing preliminary examinations of the other remains.

He stressed that the figure of 23 people corresponds to what is known as the “group of intellectuals.”

Kurti stated that on April 19, 1999, these people were detained, abducted and executed by Serbia’s enemy forces, which, he said, sought to conceal and erase the traces of this genocidal crime. He explained that the full identification process may take several months and that only after it is completed will their identities be confirmed precisely, so that their families can give them a dignified farewell and each person can have a grave bearing their full name.

The acting prime minister said the long wait and anguish endured by the families of forcibly disappeared persons are exceptionally painful.

According to him, hundreds of families are waiting to learn the fate of their relatives, but are also seeking justice. Kurti said Serbia has denied them both and continues to do so by concealing and denying crimes, refusing to open archives and classifying them in an effort to distort the truth and evade responsibility.

Kosovo’s institutions, including the Kosovo Police, the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, as well as EULEX forensic teams, were engaged in the work at these sites. Kurti thanked them for their contribution.

He called on international actors to increase pressure on Serbia to implement the Declaration on Forcibly Disappeared Persons, agreed in Brussels on May 2, 2023, and to open state archives that could help clarify the fate of missing persons.

Kurti said Serbia also arrests and persecutes the few Serbs who have dared to testify before international institutions. For this reason, he said, international pressure on the northern neighbour must increase, particularly to implement the May 2, 2023 Declaration and make state archives available.

He reiterated the demand to open the archive of the 37th Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslav Army, which, he said, committed massacres particularly in Drenica, but also across Kosovo. Its files, Kurti said, were classified 12 years ago for 30 years and will remain closed for another 18 years.

According to Kurti, families that have waited for 27 and 28 years cannot be forced to continue waiting, suffering anxiety and pain for another 18 years. He assessed that international engagement and pressure are vital to this process.

The preserved and classified files of the 37th Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslav Army, he said, must be opened by the Serbian state this year, in 2026, rather than in 2044.

Last week, authorities also presented a large quantity of weapons discovered near the sites where excavations were carried out. Kurti said the weapons have been sent for examination and analysis to determine whether they may be linked to crimes and massacres committed in these areas.

In conclusion, Kurti thanked the Government Commission on Missing Persons, the Kosovo Police, the KIA, the Institute of Forensic Medicine and EULEX teams for their contribution to the investigation and examination of these sites.

The post Zubin Potok: Suspected Human Remains of at Least 23 People Found, Kurti Links Them to “Group of Intellectuals appeared first on Albeu.com.

About 20 kilometers separate the city from the village of Kalludër, while the road toward the municipality of Zubin Potok winds through the mountains and is so narrow that two vehicles can barely pass each other. However, this route is not merely a mountain road.

It leads to one of the deepest wounds left by the war in Kosovo. It is precisely in the isolated area of Kalludër, in Zubin Potok, that Serbian forces are suspected of having concealed evidence of one of the gravest crimes committed during the war.

The remains of Albanians abducted on April 19, 1999, known as the “Mitrovica Group of Intellectuals,” are believed to possibly lie beneath this ground. It is suspected that only the Serbian criminals knew the location where the victims’ bodies were hidden, while developments in the effort to uncover it have prompted reactions from the country’s institutional leaders.

Acting President Albulena Haxhiu welcomed the confirmation that a mass grave had been found in Kalludër, Zubin Potok. According to her, this development is particularly important to efforts aimed at clarifying the fate and whereabouts of people forcibly disappeared during the war.

Acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti also emphasized that every excavation and every identification brings the country closer to truth and justice.

Kurti announced that excavations began yesterday in the village of Kalludër, Zubin Potok, in an area where a mass grave is suspected to be located. Teams from the Kosovo Police and the Institute of Forensic Medicine are involved in the operation, with support from EULEX. He said this demonstrates that the war has still not ended for many families, as they have yet to find their loved ones. For hundreds of families, the wait continues, and every excavation represents hope, while every identification is a step toward truth and justice.

Alongside the police, representatives of the Institute of Forensic Medicine and the responsible authorities, acting Justice Minister Donika Gërvalla was also present at the location where the crime is suspected to have been committed. She stated that more than 1,500 families are still waiting for news of their relatives.

Meanwhile, the Special Prosecution today submitted a request to the Basic Court in Pristina for two suspects to be remanded in custody over the criminal offense of “War crimes against the civilian population.”

Special Prosecution spokesperson Nora Luta stated that the institution remains committed to investigating the case and clarifying all the circumstances, acting in accordance with the law and the highest professional standards. She explained that, in order to protect the investigative proceedings, no further information can be made public at this stage.

Former Special Prosecution chief prosecutor Elez Blakaj also recalled that on August 4, 2016, he had taken part in excavations in the village of Mala Jabuka in Zvečan. Those searches were conducted to find the remains of 23 intellectuals from Mitrovica who disappeared during the war.

Blakaj said the discovery on July 28, 2026, in Zubin Potok of remains suspected to belong to these individuals was an important step. However, he stressed that the investigations must conclude with an indictment and a judgment so that the crimes committed and their concealment by the Serbian state apparatus are documented and proven.

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