Prosecutor expects suspected mass grave search to continue

Prosecutor expects suspected mass grave search to continue

BELGRADE -- No remains were found during the search of the first location in the village of Piskota near Đakovica, War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević told Tanjug.

The site in Kosovo is believed to contain bodies of 20 Serb civilians killed in the KLA-run prison camp of Likovac during 1998 and 1999.

"For now, by the first order of EULEX, 30 meters have been dug over and searched at the location that is the size of a stadium, but the search will continue," Vukčević said, noting that the remains of (Albanian) victims were found in Rudnica near Raska only in the seventh attempt.

He noted that the Serbian war crimes prosecution is cooperating with the EULEX prosecution on the search of the location in the village of Piskota.

"The site that is being searched is difficult to access. There are many snakes there, but this actually confirms the prosecution's presumption, as where there are snakes, there are bodies too," Vukčević said.

The Office of the Serbian Prosecutor for War Crimes stated on Monday that they have the information that the bodies buried at the location could be of the victims killed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, a former ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization) at their prison camp called Likovac.

According to the data of the Association of the Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in the Likovac camp near Srbica, ten kidnapped and missing miners from the Belaćevac mine were among those Serb civilians.

The Association's representatives said at a meeting at the Serbian Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday that more thorough search is expected not only in Piskota, but at all locations which are...