Serbia Under Fire Over US Albanians’ Murders

The funeral of the Bytyqi brothers. Photo: FoNet archive.

In a letter sent to US and EU leaders on Friday, a group of human rights campaigners, lawyers and academics, including former US officials, called for pressure to be exerted on Belgrade to resolve the murders of the Bytyqi brothers, three Albanian-Americans who were killed after being detained by Serbian police.

The letter, which coincides with the 17th anniversary of their deaths, urges the US government and Senate and European Union officials “to take constructive steps to ensure better commitment and effort by Serbia’s leaders and institutions to resolve war crimes cases, including the Bytyqi Brothers case”.

“This issue should be raised as part of your continuing dialogue with the Serbian government, parliament and civil society leaders,” it says.

Ylli, Agron, and Mehmet Bytyqi went to fight for the Kosovo Liberation Army against Belgrade’s forces and were arrested by Serbian police after the war ended when they strayed over an unmarked boundary line between Serbia and Kosovo.

After serving their sentences for illegal border crossing, they were re-arrested as they were leaving the district prison in the town of Prokuplje in southern Serbia, taken to a police training centre in Petrovo Selo, and detained in a warehouse there.

They were then tied up with wire by unknown persons and driven to a garbage disposal pit, where they were executed with shots to the back of the neck on July 9, 1999.

The case has remained unsolved ever since and has continued to be a major bilateral problem between Serbia and the US.

Two police officers believed to have been linked to the murder were put on trial, but they were acquitted.

The signatories to the letter noted their “deep concern [about] the slow pace of Serbia’s domestic war crimes prosecutions, including its failure to resolve the murders of Ylli, Agron, and Mehmet Bytyqi”.

They called Serbia’s record on the issue “dismal [and] unacceptable”.

“In the Bytyqi case, Serbian political leaders have repeatedly failed to deliver on promises made to US officials, including Vice President [Joe] Biden and Secretary of State [John] Kerry,” Praveen Madhiraju, a legal representative of the Bytyqi family said in a statement included in the letter.

Serbian presidents and prime ministers have pledged to solve the Bytyqi murders for years.

In June 2015 Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said the Bytyqi case would be solved “very soon or much sooner than anybody might expect”.

However, a year later, no visible progress has been made.

The letter urges Brussels and Washington to put pressure on Serbia on war crimes during its EU accession talks.

It is expected that Serbia will open Chapter 23 in the negotiations, the part that deals with the rule of law and human rights, this month.

In its action plan for Chapter 23, the Serbian government promised to solve all war crimes cases, and even adopted a war crimes strategy.

However, prosecutions of war crimes suspects have declined significantly in recent years.

According to the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre’s report on transitional justice issues in Serbia from 2013 to 2015, which was published last month, over the last three years, 14 indictments have been confirmed – seven in 2013, seven in 2014, but none in 2015.

Since it was established in 2003, the Serbian war crimes prosecution office has issued 62 indictments, with 43 cases ending in a final verdict.

Tanya Domi, an adjunct professor at Columbia University and adviser to campaign group Freedom House, said in a statement that was also included in the letter to US and EU leaders that Serbian officials were undermining their country’s progress by not dealing with war crimes.

“Serbia’s path toward becoming a democratic state demands it must confront its sordid past by pursuing accountability through vigorous and transparent legal processes,” Domi said.