Kurti: DNA Confirms Three Victims Near Zubin Potok
Kosovo PM Albin Kurti says DNA testing confirmed three victims from mass graves near Zubin Potok, and renewed his call for Serbia to open the archive of the Yugoslav Army's 37th Brigade.
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti announced that the government’s Commission on Missing Persons has received the first three DNA analysis reports from the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), confirming for the first time the identity of three individuals exhumed from mass graves near Zubin Potok. According to reports carried by the news outlet KoSSev and a Gorazdevac based portal, the DNA reports were forwarded immediately to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, and representatives of the commission and the institute informed the identified victims’ families on the same day the reports arrived.
All three identified individuals belong to a group of around 23 Albanian civilians, mostly doctors, professors and other residents of Srbica and Mitrovica, whom Kosovo institutions refer to as the so called intellectuals’ group. According to Kurti, the group was taken away and forcibly disappeared on April 19, 1999, 27 years ago, while attempting to travel through the Zubin Potok area toward Montenegro.
The mass grave near Zubin Potok was officially confirmed on July 27, 2026, and excavation at the site began on July 28. KoSSev reports that remains were found at the Mala Kaludra and Jabuka locations, while the Gorazdevac based portal mentions excavations in two villages in the same municipality, specifically naming Kaludra. The identity of the remains, measured against the names of those missing from the intellectuals’ group, had not been officially confirmed until now, making this the first identification of its kind since the grave was discovered.
Calling for the 37th Brigade’s archive
Following the identification, Kurti repeated a demand he had already made during the excavation itself: that the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union step up pressure on Serbia to implement the Declaration on Missing Persons, agreed on May 2, 2023, in Brussels. His specific demand is the urgent opening of archives, above all the archive of the Yugoslav Army’s 37th Motorized Brigade, which Serbia classified as confidential for a period of 30 years back in 2014.
“It is of key importance that international factors, led by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, increase pressure on Serbia to implement the Declaration on Missing Persons, agreed on May 2, 2023, in Brussels, particularly when it comes to the urgent opening of archives, including the archive of the Yugoslav Army’s 37th Motorized Brigade,” Kurti said. He is currently in the United States for the United Nations General Assembly session.
The Kosovo prime minister also laid out a timeline for the next steps in the identification process.
“In the coming days and weeks we expect to receive the remaining reports for the samples sent for DNA identification, hoping that the other families will also get the answers they have been waiting for over the past 27 years. No answer can ease the pain of loss, but knowing the truth ends the agony of waiting for word on the fate of loved ones,” Kurti said in a statement marking the identification of the victims.
Investigation and detainees
Kosovo’s prosecution is conducting an investigation against three individuals, identified by the initials J.R., M.J. and M.B., on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of war crimes against the civilian population. According to both sources, all three are currently in detention. Following the discovery at Mala Kaludra, prosecutors also requested exhumation in the village of Jabuka, also in the Zubin Potok municipality, so the investigation now formally covers both excavation sites.
Kurti announced that further reports on samples sent for DNA identification are expected in the coming days and weeks, which could change the number of officially confirmed victims relative to the group of 23 people that Kosovo institutions have so far suspected perished in the area during 1999.
As of this writing, Belgrade had not officially commented on the identification or on the renewed call to open the 37th Brigade’s archive, according to available sources. The status of that archive, sealed by Serbia’s 2014 decision for a period of 30 years, thus remains unresolved more than a decade before that term is due to expire.
