Kosovo Seeks Satellite Images of Suspected War Grave in Serbia
The Kosovo government told BIRN that more satellite images are needed of the Stavalj mine near Sjenica in south-west Serbia, where Kosovo Albanian victims of the Kosovo war are suspected to have been buried, in order to reach a definitive conclusion about whether excavation work at the site should continue or stop.
"Through satellite images, in recent years, it was possible to specify the location of the mass grave in Rudnica [in southern Serbia in 2013] after at least four years of excavations, and the location of the mass grave in Kizevak [in southern Serbia in 2020] after more than five years of excavations," said Rozafa Kelmendi, a spokesperson for the Kosovo government.
Excavations at the Stavalj mine for human remains from the Kosovo war were halted this month, 13 days after they started. The Serbian government's Commission for Missing Persons said on May 25 that no war victims' remains were found.
The Kosovo government criticised the decision to halt the excavation work. The Kosovo prime minister's office blamed Serbia for not cooperating with the search by not providing additional information from its archives.
But Veljko Odalovic, the head of Serbia's Commission for Missing Persons, told Kosovo Online on May 25 that "more than 7,000 cubic metres of loose earth were removed from the site and every square metre that was suspected to be a potential grave was searched".
The Kosovo government's Commission for Missing Persons currently has satellite images of the Stavalj mine covering the end of May and beginning of June 1999, but says that images covering a wider time period are needed.
Kelmendi said the Kosovo commission has been in contact with international institutions in an attempt to obtain additional satellite...
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