Unidentified remains in Pristina morgue a priority

BELGRADE - Solving the cases of the 351 unidentified remains in the Pristina morgue constitutes a priority in 2014, officials stated at the Tuesday meeting of the Working group in charge of cases of people gone missing during the incidents in Kosovo in 1998-1999.

The working group established that as few as 45 cases were solved in 2013.

Chair of the Kosovo Working Group on Missing Persons Lina Milner said that the purpose of the 35th meeting on Tuesday was to sum up the activities carried out in 2013 and reach an agreement on the steps which Belgrade and Pristina should take in 2014 to solve the fates of 1,176 people still reported as missing and bring the much wanted answers to their families.

Although 70 field operations were launched in 2013 and exhumations were conducted at 12 sites, only 45 cases were solved in 2013, and the biggest challenges are still embodied in the lack of new information on potential gravesites, Milner said.

During the Tuesday meeting, the families of missing persons voiced deep concern over the limited progress in the previous year and called on both sides to act more promptly.

Milner underscored that Belgrade and Pristina recognised the need for reinforcing the efforts so as to get fresh information.

As for the Rudnica site near Raska, the works will continue as of spring on grounds of specific steps suggested by the Belgrade delegation at the Tuesday meeting according to which the facility built at the spot should be taken down so that remains could be collected, identified and examined by necropsy after which these should be turned over to the families, Milner said and added that one more site in the area should be examined for remains.

Belgrade filed a report...