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Serbia, US at Odds Over Diplomats' Deaths in Libya Sasa Dragojlo Deaths of two Serbian diplomats in Libya have caused a dip in relations between Belgrade and Washington, as the two countries struggle to come up with single version. Serbia and the US continue to dispute the causes of the deaths in Libya of the two kidnapped Serbian embassy employes, Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic. <http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kidnap-deaths-turn-spotlight-on-ser bia-libya-arms-deals-02-22-2016> Belgrade maintains a US air strike against the Islamic State, ISIS, last week killed them but Pentagon officials blame a "criminal group", which it says used the US bombing as an alibi to kill them. Serbia is backing its claims with results of autopsies conducted in Belgrade and Libya, which show the numerous wounds on the bodies were sustained simultaneously, typical of what is called a blast wound effect. Either that, or the diplomats died in an explosion, according to Belgrade. "It is important that we find out the full truth. Two autopsies have been conducted in Libya and Belgrade respectively and it was established that the force of a blast caused the deaths," Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told TV Pinkon Friday. However, the Americans claim images of the slain diplomats do not match the force of explosions in what was described as a massive attack on an ISIS compound. "The state of the remains was not consistent with having been killed in an airstrike of this magnitude and intensity," an unnamed Pentagon official told The Washington Post. American officials believe the diplomats may have already been dead, and their bodies may have already been in Tripoli, by the time of the airstrike. Stefanovic criticised the Pentagon for drawing conclusions based on analyses only of photographs of the bodies. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic agrees. He said he saw the Pentagon's denial of US responsibility as a reflection of global clashes between the big powers, and said he would stick by Serbia's version unless the Pentagon offers more solid evidence to support its claims. "The Pentagon's position that the Serbian embassy staff members were not killed in the bombing of the ISIS compound in Libya is part of a global clash between the great powers, and Serbia does not want to be part of it," Vucic said on Thursday. However, a Serbian security expert, Ljubodrag Stojadinovic, said Vucic's standpoint was just a strategy to avoid his own government's role in the deaths - and show its patriotic credentials ahead of the forthcoming elections. "Vucic's attempts to look tough with the Pentagon is just a way to save his credibility among patriotic voters and is part of the [election] campaign," Stojadinovic told BIRN on Friday. "This is just drawing public attention from Serbia's responsibility for the deaths of the embassy staff and from the 'dark secret' about a potential arms deal," he added. BIRN has collected evidence showing that the Islamist-led authorities in Tripoli and the internationally recognised government in Tobruk have continued to look to Serbia as a source of weapons and ammunition. Rumours linking the kidnapping to arms deals have been circulating in political and intelligence circles for months. - See more at: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kidnap-deaths-turn-spotlight-on-serb ia-libya-arms-deals-02-22-2016#sthash.gC4LNsi2.dpuf BIRN has collected evidence showing that the Islamist-led authorities in Tripoli and the internationally recognised government in Tobruk have continued to look to Serbia as a source of weapons and ammunition. Rumours linking the kidnapping to arms deals have been circulating in political and intelligence circles for months. - See more at: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/kidnap-deaths-turn-spotlight-on-serb ia-libya-arms-deals-02-22-2016#sthash.gC4LNsi2.dpuf Rumours linking the kidnapping to arms deals have been circulating in political and intelligence circles for months. The unsolved murders in 1999 of three American-Albanian brothers, Ylli, Agron and Mehmet Bytyqi, who were volunteer fighters for the Kosovo Liberation Army, the KLA, during its war against Serbian forces, caused a bilateral problem between Serbia and the US before. Serbia promised the case would be resolved by March 2015 and the prosecution has also announced that it will resolve the case, but no indictments have been issued for the case so far. The three brothers were killed in Serbian custody during the Kosovo war and their bodies were only discovered in a mass grave in 2001.
