A startling discovery was made today in North Mitrovica, when several families opening a new grave at the local Muslim cemetery accidentally unearthed skeletal remains.
Upon the discovery, cemetery staff and local residents immediately notified the Kosovo Police, who were soon joined at the scene by officials from the Government Commission on Missing Persons, the War Crimes Investigation Directorate, and the Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Preliminary suspicions suggest that the remains belong to a victim from the 1998–1999 war in Kosovo.
“The location and the way these bones were buried indicate that they may belong to the last war period. We have retrieved the remains, and based on initial analysis, it appears to be one individual. The remains have been sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for further forensic examination and DNA sampling,” said Valon Hyseni, forensic expert.
Hyseni added that excavations are currently underway in other parts of Kosovo as well.
“Today, we conducted excavations in the village of Lismir, Fushë Kosovë municipality, but unfortunately, we did not find any remains. As you know, last week we had discoveries in the Hajvali neighborhood cemetery in Prishtina, and that process is still ongoing,” Hyseni explained.
According to him, the main challenges in the search for missing persons remain the lack of accurate information due to the passage of time. Many witnesses are no longer alive, while others have forgotten the exact locations of mass or hidden graves.
More than 1,500 people remain missing from the Kosovo war, a painful reminder of the still-unhealed wounds of the past.
