Family: Vuciq mentioned the murderers of the Bytyqi brothers

Praveen Grandirayu, legal adviser to the Bytyqi family, said he was present at a US meeting two years ago, in which Aleksandar Vuciq said the persons responsible for killing three Albanian-American brothers Bytyqi were former Serbian police officer Goran “Guri” Radosavlevic and another person, a stranger.

“I was present on September 17, 2015, in Washington, at the Embassy of Serbia, when we met with Vuciqi and he showed us this fact. Also present were Fatos Bytyqi, Ilir Bytyqi, Serbian Ambassador Djerdj Matkoviq, Vlada Jovicic and former US Ambassador to Belgrade Michael Kirby,” said Granderajou in BIRN in an email.

Radosavlevic is an executive board member of the Serbian Progressive Party, Vuciqi's ruling party.

BIRN reported in 2015 that evidence collected by Serbian investigators, FBI and Bytyqi family lawyers suggested the alleged authors have been known for years by Belgrade authorities.

In July 1999, American citizens of Albanian origin Star, Agron and Mehmet Bytyqi were captured by Serbian police on the border with Kosovo after the war ended, while helping a Roma family leave Kosovo.

Their troops were later found in a mass grave at the Petrovo Selo police training centre in eastern Serbia.

Many witnesses claimed that at the time, the person at the helm of Petrovo Selo's training camp was Radosavlevq, though he insisted he was on vacation when the brothers were killed.

Radosavlevic, who currently heads several security companies in Belgrade, was briefly investigated in connection with crime by the Serbian prosecution, but was never indicted.

The Bytyqi brothers' family says they have received promises on the part of Serbian institutions for years that crime will be solved, but so far without any tangible results.

“During the meeting, Vuciq began expressing his regret and said “if this had happened to my brother, I would do everything in my hand. And this happened to the three of you,” said the Greatirayu.

“At one point Fatos was making a suggestion and Vuciq interrupted it and said: In my mind, there are only two persons responsible for these murders, Rock and (another person he mentioned).

The Grandiraju report on Vuciki's comments at the meeting was repeated by relatives of the murdered brothers.

President Vuciq told us if he had been in our country, he would do everything in his power to find his brother's killers. He told us that he himself believed that Stone was responsible. Now he's acting like Stone is his brother and does everything to protect him,” Ilir Bytyqi told BIRN.

Fatos Bytyqi, another family member who attended the meeting, another family member who attended the meeting, also said Vuciq referred to Radosavljevic as one of the persons responsible for the death of the brothers.

This was not the first time Prime Minister Vuciq told me directly that he believed Stone was responsible. Other high-level Serbian officials have told me the same thing,” added Fatos Bytyqi.

This family statement came after eleven members of the American Congress stated in a letter to US Vice President Mike Pence that Serbian President Vuciq has acknowledged that Radosavljevic was responsible for the killings of three Bytyqi brothers.

In the letter of July 14th, convention members said Vuciq “has kept promises” to solve crime and that he “continues his close ties with the top suspect, Goran “Guri” Radosavlevq”.

“When US Ambassador to Serbia Kyle Scott, and a family member, questioned this relationship, President Vucic replied that critics should be “was ashamed” by themselves,” said in the letter.

“This happened despite the fact that President Vucic assured that Radosavljevic was responsible for the crimes,” she added.

Radosavlevic has denied any involvement in the murder.

Both Radosavlevq and Vuciq failed to respond to BIRN's demands for a comment on the letter of American Congress members until the release of the article.

The letter was sent to the Pence Vice President prior to his meeting with Vucinciqi in Washington on Monday and was signed by members of Congress: Lee Zeldin, Edward R. Royce, Eliot L. Engel, Dana Rohrabacher, Daniel M. Donovan Jr., James P. McGovern, Peter T. King, Grace Meng, Louise M. Slaghter, Eddie Bernice Johnson and Zoe Lofgren.

They urged Pence to pressure Vuciqi to finally settle the killings of three Bytyqi brothers.

After the 2015 meeting, my family trusted President Vuciq. We believed in his word. Two years later, Stone and he are still close to each other and he tells us we should be ashamed to criticize him,” said Fatos Bytyqi.

Vuciq this week is on his first official visit to the US since becoming president of Serbia earlier this year, after serving as prime minister.

Before his visit, several other members of the US Congress also expressed concern over the lack of progress in the Bytyqi case.