Kosovo police arrest nine Serbs after mass grave excavations

Kosovo police arrested nine Serbs in the northern Kosovo town of Zubin Potok on suspicion of war crimes linked to the 1998–1999 war for independence from Serbia.

The arrests follow excavations of mass graves in July and August, during which the remains of at least 23 people were found, CE Report quotes STA.

According to Kosovo police, the arrests are linked to the case of missing members of the so-called Mitrovica group of intellectuals, including doctors, professors and activists who disappeared on April 19, 1999. In northern Kosovo, in the municipality of Zubin Potok, suspected mass graves dating from the 1998–1999 Kosovo war were excavated in July and August, and the remains of at least 23 people were found.

Serbia's government Office for Kosovo condemned the operation, saying that the nine Serbs were arrested under the pretext of alleged involvement in a war crime. According to the office, the purpose of the operation was to exert additional pressure on Zubin Potok and to intimidate and drive out the remaining Serb population. The police operation is part of a months-long investigation into war crimes in the Zubin Potok area, where three other suspects had previously been arrested.

Around 13,000 people were killed in the war between Serbian forces and Kosovo Albanians, while another 4,000 remained missing after the war ended. During decades of efforts to locate mass graves, the remains of several thousand people have been found, but around 1,600 people are still missing. Efforts to locate them have been hampered by tense relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

Photo AI