Family members of the dead: At least find the bones somewhere

Kosovo Institute of Legal Medicine teams will begin excavations for mass cemeteries at several different locations in Kosovo.

Excavations have already begun in the village of Dreth (Dren) of Zubin Potok on 26 August, but teams have still found nothing.

Also, excavations in search of mass cemetery are expected to begin even in Kostunica, Prizren, Suhareka and Podujevo.

According to the Government Commission for Missing Persons in Kosovo, the beginning of excavations in Kostunica has sought Serbia.

In this country, in the Gjakova municipality, during the last war in Kosovo in 1999, the Battle of Kostare had been held between the Kosovo Liberation Army and Serbia's military.

Excavations at the village of Dreth are also done at Serbia's request.

New Excavations of Hope for Missing Family Members

On March 24, 1999, 7 people had been slaughtered at the entrance of the village of Obran since Podujevo.

Among those killed is suspected to be Avdi Maqasten's father, Qazim Maqastena from the Katunish village of this municipality.

He tells Radio Free Europe that his father's remains had been buried after the war ended.

Yet, it was never confirmed that the bones were his father's and that they were exhumed again.

We found the bones right after the war, because we knew the place according to the witnesses where they massacred them. We took them and buried them. These morgues have arrived and those bones have never been returned to us since, said Maqasten.

It is not yet known when the new excavations at Podujevo will begin, but Avdi Maqasten hopes that his father's remains will be found.

We're all anxious ever since. Always waiting. We still don't believe he's alive somewhere, isn't he? We hope that at least the bones we find somewhere”, Maqasten said.

After the war ended, 82 persons were considered missing in the Podujevo municipality. So far the remains of 41 persons have been found.

By June 1999, Natasa Marhapanovic of Istog is also searching for her mother.

She told Radio Free Europe that digging every mass or individual cemetery gives families lost hope that they will finally find their loved ones.

For mother We heard different information, from the fact that she was in some camps to the fact that she burned alive in the house to the information she was extracted from the house and ended up in a river. There are several photos and photographs that are thrilling, with two other women on the missing list and I know them, their bodies were thrown into the river. But until today, it is unknown where the” troops are, Natasa Shopanovic said.

Her father also disappeared in 1999, whose body was exhumed in 2003 by the Lishke cemetery in Belgrade (Serbia), where unidentified persons were buried, and were mainly Serb soldiers who died in Kosovo.

Excavations started in only one location.

Government Commission for Missing Persons Chairman Andy Hoti said it has been Serbia's request to begin excavations at Zubin Potok's municipality and in Kostare.

In addition to Kostares, Hoti said they would do excavations at other locations in Kosovo for mass cemeteries in the region of Prizren, Suhareka and Podujevo.

According to him, excavations have also been made by international missions U. NMIC and EULEX.

By 2018, the issue of missing persons was the full competence of UNMIK and EULEX.

The two-three-time investigations into such locations, which, of course, have resulted in negative results, but Serbia's continued demand that we go to Kostunica again is the prosecutor's ordinance. At the first moment we can get there because of the terrain, of course we will investigate”, Hoti said.

According to Hoti, the Serbian side doubts that there may be troops of Serb soldiers killed in this location. While for other locations, Hoti said the information is primarily for Albanians.

Bajram Qerkeyni, head of the Association “Parents' Voice”, told Radio Free Europe that at the sites mentioned, excavations were made even earlier.

“worked in Dren, worked in the Zubin Potok municipality in three countries, worked in parts of the north slightly, as well as in Suhareka. All these locations now mentioned have been known for years. Sadly for us family members, no one can know how far we are going and what we are experiencing. These seem to be a lie. We've always had enough of assumptions. We're tired of it.

Co-operation with Serbia for the Fate of Missing Ones

The teams of Kosovo and Serbia have met several times to discuss the issue of those missing from the recent war in Kosovo 1998-99.

Hoti said co-operation with the working sub-groups has been and is good, but according to him, Serbia is refusing to provide information to mass cemeteryes allegedly in this state.

Serbia continues to name the issue politics of missing persons and does not provide information about mass cemetery, primarily in Serbia's territory, because we know that based on information and on practice, so far mainly in Serbia's territory, many of the missing persons -- Kosovo citizens -- have been exhumed and sent to Serbia with a view to extinction”, Hoti said.

Hoti said pressure should be increased on Serbia, not to address the issue politically but humanely. According to him, one of the main challenges is access to Serbia's military state archives.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti is opposing the dialogue with Serbia, as part of the Serbian delegation is Velko Ollarovic, and Kosovo representatives do not want to meet with him.

According to the Government of Kosovo, Odliovic has been the main person of Slobodan Milosevic's regime in Kosovo, and he should be questioned about missing persons and not be part of a commission for the missing.

After the end of the war in Kosovo in 1999, about 6,500 people have been missing.

Since then, several exhumations have been carried out in mass cemeterys in Kosovo and Serbia, and so far about 70 per cent of the missing have been found.

According to authorities in Kosovo, around 1,630 people, mostly Albanians, continue to be found.

In the recent war in Kosovo, according to the Fund for Humanitarian Law, about 13,500 people have been killed. Most of those killed are Albanian civilians. /rel/