Prishtina Basic Court ordered 30 days’ detention to two Serbs suspected of war crimes during the 1999 war in Kosovo.

The suspects, M.J. and M.B., were arrested on Monday in a police operation. The prosecution says the case is related to the ongoing excavation of a suspected mass grave near Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo.

The works, which started on Monday, are being conducted on the request of the Special Prosecution and by order of the Court of Pristina for exhumation, autopsy and identification of mortal remains.

“The court assessed that the imposition of pre-trial detention in this criminal case is an adequate measure, as there is a real risk that if the defendants are released, they may flee with the aim of hiding and escaping criminal responsibility; also, taking into account that the defendants are also citizens of Serbia, there is a real risk that they will easily flee,” the court said on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Albin Kurti echoed suspicions that the grave might hold the remains of 23 Albanian civilians from Mitrovica who were taken by Serbian forces on April 19, 1999 and never found since.

“Our immediate suspicion when we learned that mortal remains were found was that it was the group of 23 intellectuals in Mitrovica who were kidnapped and forcibly disappeared. We cannot confirm that it is them, but this was our immediate suspicion. However, we must wait for our institutions to tell us what it is about,” Kurti said.

“But it seems that we have a mass grave in the village of Kalluder, Zubin Potok, in the north, which was an area that had not been examined before,” he added.

Kushtrim Gara, from the Kosovo government’s commission on missing persons, said the location has been in the focus of relevant institutions for a long time but did not give more details due to the sensitivity of the case.

“We are waiting for the completion of all examinations and the exhumation process, and any information that can be shared will initially be shared with the families of the missing persons, because the victims are at the centre of this process,” Gara said.

On July 28, the Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo criticised the arrests and accused the Kosovo authorities of putting local Serbs under undue pressure.

“These unfounded actions add to the unrest in Serbian communities and create a sense of insecurity and fear among the Serbian people, which is the goal of the regime in Pristina, which has no political legitimacy and is trying to build its position by oppressing the Serbian people,” the office said.

A report published on Wednesday by Kosovo’s Institute of Crimes Committed During the War concluded that 1,578 persons are still missing from the 1999 Kosovo war.