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The Unidentified: Accountability for War Crimes in Kosovo

Date:
Location:
1539 Longworth House Office Building

Announcement

Briefing Series on Accountability

Please join the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a film screening followed by a panel discussion of The Unidentified, a film by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) that explores some of the most brutal and unresolved war crimes of the Kosovo war.  

In the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Serbian President Slobadan Milosevec stripped Kosovo province of its autonomy in 1989.  Conflict escalated until war broke out in February of 1998. On March 24, 1999, NATO intervened with airstrikes. Seventy-eight days and 38,000 sorties later, Serbia accepted withdrawal of its forces. 

War crimes, including torture, killings, rapes, and forced expulsions, were committed during the armed conflict, the vast majority of which have been attributed to Serbian police or the Yugoslav Army. By the time the conflict ended, according to State Department records, Serbia’s systematic campaign to expel ethnic Albanians from Kosovo had led to the looting and burning of more than 1,200 residential areas; the killing of at least 6,000 civilians; and the forced displacement of over 1.5 million Kosovar Albanians, at least 90% of the population.  

The Unidentified is a 40-minute documentary that examines some of the war crimes committed by Serbian forces against Kosovar Albanians during the Kosovo war. Based on two years’ of research, the film focuses on attacks on villages around the town of Pec, and identifies commanders and officers alleged to have given the orders and to have removed the victims’ bodies to mass graves in Serbia. Among those named is a prime suspect in the post-war executions of three American citizens and brothers -- the Bytyqi Brothers—a crime that is the subject of a pending concurrent resolution in the House of Representatives (H. Con. Res 51).   No individual has ever been found guilty for the executions of the brothers.

Following the screening, a distinguished panel will provide insights into the conflict and offer recommendations as to how Congress can help ensure accountability for those responsible.

The screening and panel discussion will be open to members of Congress, congressional staff, the interested public and the media. For any questions, please contact David Howell (for Rep. McGovern) at 202-225-3599 or David.Howell@mail.house.gov or Isaac Six (for Rep. Pitts) at 202-225-2411 or Isaac.Six@mail.house.gov.

Hosted by:

James P. McGovern, M.C.
Co-Chairman, TLHRC
Joseph R. Pitts, M.C.
Co-Chairman, TLHRC
Witnesses

Participants

Panelists

  • Diane Orentlicher, Professor of International Law at American University’s Washington College of Law
  • Marija Ristic, Reporter, screenwriter and journalist
  • Fatose Bytyqi, Brother of Ylli, Mehmet, and Agron Bytyqi, American citizens executed in Serbia  

Moderator

  • Robert A. Hand , Policy Advisor , Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Bios 

Meeting Documents

Resources

Contact The Commission

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
4150 O'Neill House Office Building
200 C Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20515
United States of America

Phone: +1 (202) 225-3599
Fax: +1 (202) 226-6584
TLHRC@mail.house.gov

Accessibility

The Commission seeks to make its events, meetings and hearings accessible to persons with disabilities.

If you are in need of special accommodations, please call (202) 225-3599 at least four business days in advance.

Questions with regard to special accommodations in general (including availability of Commission materials in alternative formats and assistive listening devices, sign language interpretation, etc.) may be directed to the Commission.

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