Mass grave in Kalludër and Jabukë, Zubin Potok — identities of three victims confirmed, members of the “Intellectuals Group”

The country’s Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, has announced that at the start of his visit to the United States of America he was notified by the Government Commission on Missing Persons that the first three DNA reports have been received from the International Commission on Missing Persons, from samples of mortal remains exhumed at the mass grave locations in Kalludër and Jabukë, Zubin Potok.

Kurti said in a Facebook post that the DNA analyses have confirmed the identities of three victims, establishing their connection to the persons of the group known as the “Intellectuals Group,” and announced that today, representatives of the Government Commission on Missing Persons and the Institute have notified the families of the three identified victims.

Read Kurti’s full post:

At the start of my visit to the United States of America, I was notified by the Government Commission on Missing Persons that the first three DNA reports have been received from the International Commission on Missing Persons, from samples of mortal remains exhumed at the mass grave locations in Kalludër and Jabukë, Zubin Potok.

Less than two months after the confirmation of the first mass grave, DNA analyses have confirmed the identities of three victims, establishing their connection to the persons of the group known as the “Intellectuals Group,” mostly citizens from Skenderaj and Mitrovica, abducted and forcibly disappeared on April 19, 1999, by Serbian forces.

The DNA reports have been shared with the Institute of Forensic Medicine and immediately, today, representatives of the Government Commission on Missing Persons and the Institute have notified the families of the three identified victims.

In the days and weeks to come, we expect to receive the other reports for the samples sent for identification through DNA analysis, with the hope that other families too will receive the answers they have been waiting for for 27 years. No answer can erase the pain of loss, but knowing the truth ends the anxiety of waiting to learn the fate of loved ones.

On July 27, the discovery of the mass grave in Kalludër was confirmed. During my visit to this location, I stressed that it is vital for international actors, led by the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the European Union, to increase pressure on Serbia for the implementation of the Declaration on Missing Persons, agreed on May 2, 2023, in Brussels, particularly for the immediate opening of the archives, including the archive of the 37th Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslav Army, which committed massacres in Kosovo, especially in Drenica, and whose documentation Serbia classified in 2014 for a period of thirty years.

Our institutional commitment will continue with field research, support for the identification process and direct and careful communication with families. We will stand by them and support them in their demands for truth, justice and the dignified return of their loved ones.

Clarifying the fate of every person forcibly disappeared is a state priority of the Republic of Kosovo and a human obligation, which remains open as long as even one family awaits an answer.

Even during my visit to the United States and in the meetings within the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, as every day in my work and that of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, the truth about the fate of our loved ones and justice for the victims and their families will be at the center of our engagement. An inseparable part of this agenda will be the demand that the United States of America, the European Union and the United Kingdom increase pressure on Serbia for the implementation of the commitments undertaken, the opening of the archives and the provision of information that enables clarifying the fate of forcibly disappeared persons.