BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – A brother of three American citizens slain after fighting in Serbia in 1999 accused the Balkan country’s leaders on Tuesday of protecting the killers and refusing to bring them to justice despite repeated pledges to U.S. officials to do so.
The Bytyqi brothers, Ylli, Mehmet and Agron, left their Brooklyn, New York pizza business to fight with ethnic Albanian rebels against Serbia’s rule in Kosovo. They were arrested at the end of the clashes when they strayed into central Serbia. Their bodies were discovered in a mass grave in 2001.
Their brother Fatos Bytyqi, who was in Belgrade to inquire about the progress of the legal case, told The Associated Press in an interview that Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has repeatedly promised American officials that Serbia would solve the case, which has burdened relations between the two countries.
“He promised to our government. He said patience,” Bytyqi said. “I say patience for 17 years? This case is not from yesterday. He broke many promises.”
There was no immediate reaction from Vucic, but Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said after meeting Bytyqi on Tuesday that the state is “exerting maximal efforts” to solve the case.