Erblin Ademi observed workers excavating recently discovered mass graves from the 1998-99 war in Kosovo. Nearly three decades after his father disappeared, Ademi felt both fear and hope that his remains might finally be found.
Ademi was nine years old when he last saw his father, Adem Ademi, a prominent surgeon who vanished along with 22 other intellectuals in April 1999, just months before the war concluded. Approximately 1,600 individuals remain missing from the conflict, believed to be scattered in unmarked mass graves, and Ademi’s family has endured years of distress and disappointment over unsuccessful attempts to locate his father's remains.
They are now cautiously optimistic because the newly discovered graves are located near where Ademi was last seen. Excavations commenced in late July near the village of Kalluder e Vogel in the northern municipality of Zubin Potok, following the discovery of human remains there. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated that authorities suspect the victims could be the missing intellectuals, who were allegedly intercepted while attempting to leave Kosovo to avoid capture by Serb troops.
“Always, when we hear about the start of excavations, there is a mixed feeling, a feeling of hope and a feeling of pain,” Ademi said. “No matter how many years pass, the feeling of pain will always exist … but at the same time there has always been hope, a feeling that finally the truth will be revealed.”
According to the Humanitarian Law Center rights group, Kosovo’s missing include roughly 1,200 ethnic Albanians, about 400 ethnic Serbs, and dozens of Roma.
Around 13,000 people died during the war in Kosovo, which involved ethnic Albanians rebelling for independence from Serbia. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, a declaration that Belgrade does not recognize.
Tensions persist. In May 2023, Serbia and Kosovo reached an agreement that included commitments from both sides to clarify the fate of the missing, but accusations of stalling cooperation have been exchanged between Kosovo and Serbia.
“It is obvious that authorities are not willing to cooperate,” stated Bekim Blakaj of the Humanitarian Law Center.
The European Union seeks normalization of ties between Kosovo and Serbia as a prerequisite for their plans to join the bloc.
Kosovo police reported last month that they arrested two ethnic Serbs on suspicion of war crimes related to the mass graves, several days before the latest excavations began. The two men remain in custody.
Several high-ranking Serbian political and military officials have faced trials and convictions for war crimes in Kosovo at a U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
Erblin Ademi held a photograph of his father holding him as a young boy.
“Every human being has the right to have a grave where they can be visited, where they can be honored, where they can be remembered,” Ademi said. “We are very hopeful that this will be the end; no matter how long the whole process takes, we will wait until we can honor them as they deserve.”