Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti confirmed on Tuesday that three more victims of enforced disappearance during the Kosovo 1998-99 war were identified following DNA analysis carried out in the Hague.Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti confirmed on Tuesday that three more victims of enforced disappearance during the Kosovo 1998-99 war were identified following DNA analysis carried out in the Hague.

“Following initial identifications from remains exhumed in Kalluder and Jabuke (villages near Zubin Potok in north Kosovo), the Government Commission on Missing Persons has received new DNA reports confirming the identities of Adem (Fazli) Ademi, Fatmir (Bajram) Fazlija and Ali (Islam) Haliti,” Kurti wrote on Facebook.

Kurti said the families had been notified. The three men were amongst missing Kosovo Albanian intellectuals “who were abducted by Serbian armed forces in April 1999 and subsequently subjected to enforced disappearance”, Kurti explained.

He added that the effort to find missing persons “goes hand-in-hand with the ongoing pursuit of accountability for war crimes – crimes that continue to be denied and concealed, while relevant documents and archives remain classified or sealed, and the perpetrators of genocide are glorified”.

Excavations conducted by Kosovo authorities in August 2026 in the villages of Kalluder and Jabuke in Zubin Potok, discovered human remains believed to belong to at least 23 people. The excavation process in these two villages began on July 28, 2026, and lasted for four weeks.

Three suspects are currently under investigation and in custody in connection with this case, suspected of committing war crimes against the civilian population.

Around 1,600 people remain missing from the Kosovo war.

According to a report by the Institute for Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo, IKKL, at least 13,227 people were killed, subjected to enforced disappearance or died as a result of the war between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2000.

The publication of this list marks the first phase of the IKKL’s institutional database, which was developed to document the human toll of the war and serve as a reliable resource for institutions and researchers.