Journalist Betim Musliu has shared new details about an investigation conducted nearly 20 years ago into the disappearance of 23 Albanian intellectuals from Mitrovica, saying that a site near the village of Dren, close to Zubin Potok, had long been considered the primary suspected location of a mass grave.
Musliu disclosed the information while discussing the ongoing excavations in the village of Kalludër e Vogël, where authorities are investigating a site believed to contain a mass grave from the 1998–1999 Kosovo War.
According to Kosovo authorities, human remains and clothing have been uncovered at the site and are believed to be linked to the 23 intellectuals from Mitrovica who were forcibly disappeared during the war.
“Our investigation focused on northern Mitrovica. At the time, we contacted numerous people who claimed they had taken part in digging the graves where the executed members of the Mitrovica intellectuals’ group were buried,” Musliu said during the Pressing television program.
He added that a Serbian source had provided detailed information, claiming that local villagers and members of the Serbian police who participated in the burials had described exactly how the graves were dug and who was buried there.
“One Serbian man told us that those involved had shared every possible detail with him. He even remembered Dr. Adem Ademi—what he was wearing, that he had a new watch, new shoes, and a red shirt. At the time, these details made the story highly credible to us,” Musliu stated.
The excavations in Kalludër e Vogël are continuing as forensic experts work to identify the recovered remains and establish whether they belong to the group of 23 Albanian intellectuals who disappeared during the Kosovo War.
