After nearly three decades, the Kosovo government says the mortal remains of three other people known as part of the “Group of Intellectuals,” abducted and forcibly disappeared during the 1999 war, have been identified. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, while the identification, according to the official version, was carried out through DNA analysis.
Names identified
According to Kurti’s announcement, they are Adem (Fazli) Ademi, Fatmir (Bajram) Fazliu and Ali (Islam) Haliti.
Kosovo’s prime minister said the Government Commission on Missing Persons has been notified in the case, while the victims’ families have been informed by the responsible institutions.
Abduction in April 1999
In his response, Kurti described the three identified men as intellectuals and well-known activists for the national cause, who were abducted in April 1999 by Serbian armed forces and then forcibly disappeared.
The government announcement brings renewed attention to one of the deepest postwar wounds in Kosovo: the fate of missing persons and the many-year delay in identifying mortal remains.
23 sets of remains exhumed in Zubin Potok
According to data made public earlier, excavations carried out in July and August at three locations in Zubin Potok led to the exhumation of the mortal remains of 23 people.
Authorities suspect they belong to members of the “Group of Intellectuals of Mitrovica,” who were forcibly disappeared in 1999.
War crimes investigation
In September, Idriz Rreci, Adem Beqiri and Salih Mëziu, also part of the same group, were identified as well.
Meanwhile, three people are reported to be under investigation in this case, on suspicion of war crimes against the civilian population.
The new identification sheds light on the fate of three victims, but once again leaves open the fundamental question of criminal responsibility and the pace of investigations into forced disappearances during the war in Kosovo.
For the families, the return of names after 27 years is a painful step toward the truth, even as justice remains on trial.