Mass grave worry as human stays present in European village linked to ‘kidnapped intellectuals’
Human remains found in remote mountain village Mala Kaludra in Serb-majority North Kosovo have sparked urgent exhumations, as investigators probe a suspected Kosovo War mass grave
Human remains found in a remote European mountain village (Image: Google Maps)
Human remains found in a remote European mountain village have triggered urgent exhumations amid fears the site could be a long-hidden mass grave linked to wartime kidnappings of “intellectuals”.
Forensic teams have been sent to Mala Kaludra (also spelled Kalludër) in the municipality of Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo. It is an area now being investigated for possible evidence dating back to the 1998-1999 Kosovo War.
Doctor Ditor Haljiti, from Kosovo’s Institute of Forensic Medicine, said the discovery has been confirmed as being of “forensic interest” after an initial on-site assessment. Haljiti said the team attended on the order of the Special Department of the Basic Court in Pristina to assess the origin of the remains and determine their significance.
Urgent exhumations have been triggered(Image: Google Maps)
He added the site was secured and that, due to the difficult mountainous terrain and hard access, investigators are first preparing the location “as thoroughly as possible” to ensure the excavation is carried out professionally. The suspected grave site was officially confirmed on this week, after buried skeletal remains and clothing were found.
The terrain is said to be an area that had never previously been examined for potential war-crimes evidence, Serbian Times reported. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has said the main suspicion is the remains could belong to the so-called “Group of Mitrovica Intellectuals” – 23 Kosovo Albanian civilians who were abducted and disappeared on April 19, 1999, during the war, serbian news outlet Danas reported.
The victims were described as prominent figures from North Mitrovica, including doctors, university professors, economists and human rights activists. Their whereabouts have remained unknown for more than 27 years, Radio Slobodna Evropa reported.
Zubin Potok
Kosovo Police are guarding the site, with international oversight from the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX). The operation has already led to arrests.
Kosovo’s Special Prosecution announced two Kosovo Serbs – identified only as M.J. and M.B. – have been detained for 30 days on suspicion of war crimes against the civilian population linked to the abduction and execution of the 23 civilians, Srpske Novine reported. Confirming the legal process, Arbnora Ljuta, spokesperson for the Special Prosecutor’s Office, said: “At the request of the Special Prosecutor’s Office and by order of the Basic Court in Pristina, the competent institutions are carrying out an order for the exhumation, autopsy, and identification of human remains at a location in the municipality of Zubin Potok.”
Kushtrim Gara, head of the government’s Missing Persons Unit, urged caution, saying it was too early to give more details until examinations were complete, adding: “Of course, we will wait until all examinations, the exhumation process, and forensic analyses are completed…”
Serbians carry the bodies of family members in 1999, killed in Gracko, Kosovo
Zubin Potok sits in North Kosovo, close to the border with Serbia, and is overwhelmingly ethnic Serb – with Kosovo Serbs forming the large majority across the municipality’s dozens of villages. The latest find reopens painful questions about atrocities on all sides.
While the bulk of civilian deaths and mass displacement in the 1998-1999 Kosovo War is widely documented as being carried out by Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitary forces against ethnic Albanians, human rights investigations have also detailed serious war crimes committed by Kosovo insurgent forces against innocent Serb civilians.
Reports by organisations such as Human Rights Watch and evidence considered by international tribunals have described abductions, executions and post-war revenge attacks in 1999, as well as the discovery of smaller grave sites containing missing ethnic Serbs. High-profile cases have also been pursued at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, which has indicted senior former Kosovo Liberation Army figures – including ex-president Hashim Thaçi – over allegations including illegal detention, torture and murder of Serbs, Roma and Albanian dissidents.
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