Media: New information on the murder of Bytyqi brothers; key witness dropped

Media: New information on the murder of Bytyqi brothers; key witness dropped

The case of the murder of the Bytyqi brothers, American citizens who fought on the side of the so-called "Kosovo Liberation Army", even after 22 years, does not cease to be an occasion for American exerting political pressure on Serbia.

The candidate for the new US ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, warned that this would continue, saying on the eve of his arrival in Belgrade that this would be a key political issue for him and that he would not give up the demand that "all those involved in that crime shall be brought to justice, regardless of their rank or position".

Today, the Belgrade newspaper Kurir states that it has gained new information that reveals what kind of omissions both the Serbian and American sides have made during all these years, and because of which, among other things, this case hadn't been resolved.

The source of that paper claims that the then war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević, the spokesman of the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office, as well as the American authorities that dealt with this case, dropped one of the key witnesses in this case.

The witness, a man from Serbia who claims to know the relevant facts, is in Sweden, agrees to testify and in return seeks protection for himself and his family. The acting deputy prosecutor, who took the statement from the witness in June 2010, handed it over to Vukčević, who handed over an unauthorized copy of the statement to the representative of the US Embassy, Steven Repa, and the family of the Bytyqi brothers. The information from that statement appeared in the media and the witness received death threats. He also gives a statement before the representatives of the US judiciary, who promise him protection, but later give up on that, explaining that they will not protect the criminal.

Prosecutor Vukčević and Vekarić went to the media to brag that they had solved the case, but in fact they completely contaminated it and thus lost a witness", claims a source from the Belgrade newspaper who is familiar with the investigation.

He notes that a big oversight was made in 2006, when the prosecutor refused to hand over to the district public prosecutor the only case that was established in connection with this murder.

The indictment existed for Sreten Popovic and Milos Stojanovic, but they were acquitted in 2009 for war crimes against prisoners of war, because it has not been proven that the Bytyqi brothers had the status of prisoners of war.

The question arises as to why the prosecutor made such a mistake. Because in August 2006, the deputy prosecutor of that time stated that the case should be left to the district public prosecutor and an indictment should be formed for aiding and abetting multiple murders. However, Vukčević refused - he notes.

Yili, Agron, and Mehmet Bytyqi were killed in 1999. Bytyqi brothers were executed, shot in the head with their hands tied behind their backs, while their bodies with traces of torture were found in a mass grave in Petrovo Selo in eastern Serbia.