Serbia Confirms 3 Dead Were U.S. Brothers Carlotta Gall New York Times Service Wednesday, July 18, 2001 http://www.iht.com/articles/26519.html SKOPJE, Macedonia The Serbian government confirmed on Tuesday that three bodies found in a mass grave in eastern Serbia are those of three Albanian-American brothers from New York. . Serbian government ministers admitted that the men were in police hands when they disappeared and called their killing an "extraordinarily serious crime." . The three brothers, who were born in Chicago, went missing in Serbia in July 1999, just days after the end of NATO's war with Yugoslavia. The have been identified as Ylli Bytyqi, 24; Agron Bytyqi, 23, and Mehmet Bytyqi, 21. . The Serbian interior minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, said that the men had been found blindfolded, their hands tied, and with gunshot wounds to the head. Mr. Mihajlovic admitted that their deaths appeared to have been extrajudicial. . "We are talking about an extraordinarily serious crime because we do not have sufficient evidence that they were tried at all for a criminal offense or sentenced to the death penalty," he said at a news conference in Belgrade. The war had ended by that time, he said, and there was no longer a declared state of war in the country that could have allowed any form of court-martial. . The men were identified by an official document found in the pocket of one, signed by a Serbian judge. It showed that the three had been sentenced for a misdemeanor on June 27, 1999 and received 15 days' imprisonment for entering Yugoslavia without visas, the interior minister said. . The Serbian justice minister, Vladan Batic, also confirmed that the men had been detained in a prison in southern Serbia, near the border with Kosovo. They were released less than two weeks later, on July 8, 1999. . "The police were waiting for them," Mr. Batic said, "but I do not know what happened to them after that." The men's bodies were found several hours' drive away in a mass grave in a special police forces training camp in eastern Serbia. Their bodies were recently exhumed when officials uncovered two mass graves containing mostly Kosovo Albanian victims of the war. . The Bytyqi brothers had joined up as volunteers with the Kosovo Liberation Army during the war. But they were accompanying three Roma, or gypsy neighbors, to travel safely through Kosovo to Serbia when they were arrested by Serbian police. For Related Topics See: Europe < < Back to Start of Article SKOPJE, Macedonia The Serbian government confirmed on Tuesday that three bodies found in a mass grave in eastern Serbia are those of three Albanian-American brothers from New York. . Serbian government ministers admitted that the men were in police hands when they disappeared and called their killing an "extraordinarily serious crime." . The three brothers, who were born in Chicago, went missing in Serbia in July 1999, just days after the end of NATO's war with Yugoslavia. The have been identified as Ylli Bytyqi, 24; Agron Bytyqi, 23, and Mehmet Bytyqi, 21. . The Serbian interior minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, said that the men had been found blindfolded, their hands tied, and with gunshot wounds to the head. Mr. Mihajlovic admitted that their deaths appeared to have been extrajudicial. . "We are talking about an extraordinarily serious crime because we do not have sufficient evidence that they were tried at all for a criminal offense or sentenced to the death penalty," he said at a news conference in Belgrade. The war had ended by that time, he said, and there was no longer a declared state of war in the country that could have allowed any form of court-martial. . The men were identified by an official document found in the pocket of one, signed by a Serbian judge. It showed that the three had been sentenced for a misdemeanor on June 27, 1999 and received 15 days' imprisonment for entering Yugoslavia without visas, the interior minister said. . The Serbian justice minister, Vladan Batic, also confirmed that the men had been detained in a prison in southern Serbia, near the border with Kosovo. They were released less than two weeks later, on July 8, 1999. . "The police were waiting for them," Mr. Batic said, "but I do not know what happened to them after that." The men's bodies were found several hours' drive away in a mass grave in a special police forces training camp in eastern Serbia. Their bodies were recently exhumed when officials uncovered two mass graves containing mostly Kosovo Albanian victims of the war. . The Bytyqi brothers had joined up as volunteers with the Kosovo Liberation Army during the war. But they were accompanying three Roma, or gypsy neighbors, to travel safely through Kosovo to Serbia when they were arrested by Serbian police. SKOPJE, Macedonia The Serbian government confirmed on Tuesday that three bodies found in a mass grave in eastern Serbia are those of three Albanian-American brothers from New York. . Serbian government ministers admitted that the men were in police hands when they disappeared and called their killing an "extraordinarily serious crime." . The three brothers, who were born in Chicago, went missing in Serbia in July 1999, just days after the end of NATO's war with Yugoslavia. The have been identified as Ylli Bytyqi, 24; Agron Bytyqi, 23, and Mehmet Bytyqi, 21. . The Serbian interior minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, said that the men had been found blindfolded, their hands tied, and with gunshot wounds to the head. Mr. Mihajlovic admitted that their deaths appeared to have been extrajudicial. . "We are talking about an extraordinarily serious crime because we do not have sufficient evidence that they were tried at all for a criminal offense or sentenced to the death penalty," he said at a news conference in Belgrade. The war had ended by that time, he said, and there was no longer a declared state of war in the country that could have allowed any form of court-martial. . The men were identified by an official document found in the pocket of one, signed by a Serbian judge. It showed that the three had been sentenced for a misdemeanor on June 27, 1999 and received 15 days' imprisonment for entering Yugoslavia without visas, the interior minister said. . The Serbian justice minister, Vladan Batic, also confirmed that the men had been detained in a prison in southern Serbia, near the border with Kosovo. They were released less than two weeks later, on July 8, 1999. . "The police were waiting for them," Mr. Batic said, "but I do not know what happened to them after that." The men's bodies were found several hours' drive away in a mass grave in a special police forces training camp in eastern Serbia. Their bodies were recently exhumed when officials uncovered two mass graves containing mostly Kosovo Albanian victims of the war. . The Bytyqi brothers had joined up as volunteers with the Kosovo Liberation Army during the war. But they were accompanying three Roma, or gypsy neighbors, to travel safely through Kosovo to Serbia when they were arrested by Serbian police. SKOPJE, Macedonia The Serbian government confirmed on Tuesday that three bodies found in a mass grave in eastern Serbia are those of three Albanian-American brothers from New York. . Serbian government ministers admitted that the men were in police hands when they disappeared and called their killing an "extraordinarily serious crime." . The three brothers, who were born in Chicago, went missing in Serbia in July 1999, just days after the end of NATO's war with Yugoslavia. The have been identified as Ylli Bytyqi, 24; Agron Bytyqi, 23, and Mehmet Bytyqi, 21. . The Serbian interior minister, Dusan Mihajlovic, said that the men had been found blindfolded, their hands tied, and with gunshot wounds to the head. Mr. Mihajlovic admitted that their deaths appeared to have been extrajudicial. . "We are talking about an extraordinarily serious crime because we do not have sufficient evidence that they were tried at all for a criminal offense or sentenced to the death penalty," he said at a news conference in Belgrade. The war had ended by that time, he said, and there was no longer a declared state of war in the country that could have allowed any form of court-martial. . The men were identified by an official document found in the pocket of one, signed by a Serbian judge. It showed that the three had been sentenced for a misdemeanor on June 27, 1999 and received 15 days' imprisonment for entering Yugoslavia without visas, the interior minister said. . The Serbian justice minister, Vladan Batic, also confirmed that the men had been detained in a prison in southern Serbia, near the border with Kosovo. They were released less than two weeks later, on July 8, 1999. . "The police were waiting for them," Mr. Batic said, "but I do not know what happened to them after that." The men's bodies were found several hours' drive away in a mass grave in a special police forces training camp in eastern Serbia. Their bodies were recently exhumed when officials uncovered two mass graves containing mostly Kosovo Albanian victims of the war. . The Bytyqi brothers had joined up as volunteers with the Kosovo Liberation Army during the war. But they were accompanying three Roma, or gypsy neighbors, to travel safely through Kosovo to Serbia when they were arrested by Serbian police. http://www.iht.com/articles/26519.html Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
