Pursuant to an order issued by the Special Department of the Court in Pristina, the Kosovo Police, forensic medicine anthropologists, and representatives of EULEX have resumed excavation operations to locate the mortal remains of victims of the last war in Kosovo, in the territory of Rahovec—specifically at a site known as “Përzhina.”
The mortal remains of one individual, along with several additional bone fragments, have been discovered in the Rahovec area and are suspected to belong to victims of the war.
Ditor Haliti, a representative of the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IFM), announced that the remains have been transferred to the IFM for verification and identification. He emphasized that, based on preliminary data, the remains are believed to belong to victims from the wartime period in the municipality of Rahovec. Haliti explained that this location had previously been excavated by the Hague Tribunal and UNMIK teams, but recent analyses indicate that not all remains were exhumed at that time.
According to Haliti, thanks to analytical work carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross and local institutions, it has been concluded that a number of missing persons may still be buried in this area. “This number is up to eight—we cannot determine it precisely; it may be smaller, but at most it could be eight,” he stated.
Haliti further noted that during this year alone, the mortal remains of 22 persons suspected to be victims of the war have been found in Kosovo.
Meanwhile, Kushtrim Gara, a representative of the Government Commission on Missing Persons, stated that the case relates to the summer of 1998, when Serbian forces, in an attempt to conceal evidence of crimes, buried the bodies of more than 40 Albanian victims in this area of Rahovec.
Gara added that excavations were conducted at this site in 1999, 2002, and 2007. However, following an analysis of documentation and existing data, the Commission concluded that the remains of 36 victims have been exhumed, while at least eight persons are still believed to be buried in the area.
