5 results found for: “Death_of_the_Bytyqi_brothers”.

Main result

Death of the Bytyqi brothers

The Bytyqi brothers were American-Kosovo Albanian members of the Kosovo Liberation Army who were killed by Serbian Police shortly after the end of the Kosovo War, while they were in custody in Petrovo Selo, Kladovo, Serbia. The bodies of the three brothers were discovered in July 2001 in a mass grave containing 70 Albanians, near Special Anti–Terrorist Unit (SAJ) training facility. The bodies were found with their hands bound and with gunshot wounds to their heads. The indictment against the alleged perpetrators says the brothers were brought to the edge of the pit and shot in the head, causing them to slump into a mass grave atop 70 corpses dumped there earlier. Agron (23), Mehmet (21) and Ylli (25) were American citizens of Kosovo Albanian origin born near Chicago, Illinois and living in New York City. The Bytyqi family comes from the village of Semetisht in the town of Suhareka. After the rebellion started in Kosovo they decided to go to Kosovo and fight in KLA's "Atlantic Brigade". In July 1999, following the conclusion of NATO's military response to the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's ethnic cleansing of Albanians and the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement, they smuggled two families – а Serbian family from Suharekë (Kosovo) – to return to Kraljevo, from where they escaped during the war. Due to a violation of the "Law on Movement and Residence of Foreigners" of Republic of Serbia, they were arrested along the transit road between Kosovo and Serbia. They were sentenced to 15 days in prison. Twelve days later after appealing, they were released. Their Serbian neighbor Miroslav waited to collect them, but the brothers were instead collected by two men driving a white car with no license plates. They were taken to the Special Anti–Terrorist Unit training base. Two days later, they were killed with bullets fired to the back of their heads and buried in a mass grave which already contained the bodies of the killed Kosovo Albanians. As of July 2019, there are no pending charges in the case and no high-ranking official has been investigated for their involvement. However, several United States Congress members asked the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić to extradite former police general Goran Radosavljević to the United States, which he refused, reportedly saying that "there is no evidence for his arrest".