US expects settlement of Bytyqi brothers' case, embassy burn

The United States expects Serbia to solve the case of the American Embassy burning in Belgrade and that of killing the Bytyci brothers, United States Ambassador (SHBA) in Serbia Anthony Godry has said.

These two cases have burdened reports between Serbia and the United States for years.

In my first meetings with the ministers of the Government of Serbia, I have discussed both cases. We had an open dialogue, not neglecting any subject. Much of the aid the United States provides to Serbia concerns rule of law. We expect these cases to be resolved and the authors to be punished”,frey said.

He made these comments during the signing of a stand-by agreement for Serbia on the part of the United States, amounting to $20.3m.

Minister for European Integration in Serbia's Government Jadranka Joksimovic said each initiated process would have its own epilogue.

It stated it is the authorities' duty to determine who is guilty, and that the Government of Serbia “has never been co-operative when it comes to those two cases”.

The Agron brothers, Mehmet and Yll Bytyci were arrested in 1999 in Serbia because, as Serbian officials have said, illegal border crossing.

They were released from prison after being convicted and then killed. Their troops were found in a mass grave near Petrovo Selos in eastern Serbia in 2001.

Two police officers accused of helping liquidate the Bytyci brothers, Sreten Popovovic and Milos Stojanovic have been acquitted at the Supreme Court's decision in Belgrade for war crimes.

The court has said there is no evidence of their involvement in the killings committed in July 1999.

The next case, it concerns the February 21st 2008 incident in Belgrade, when after a government-organised rally to reject Kosovo's declaration of independence, a group of hooligans threw stones and other items at the US Embassy, with the cases on fire at the embassy object.