No Evidence that Serbs Drowned Albanian Youths in Kosovo

“No evidence” of guilt in drownings
Beta - April 27, 2004

BELGRADE -- Tuesday – Kosovo’s international prosecutor has failed to find any evidence to support reports that Serbs were involved in the drowning of three Albanian boys in March in Kosovo, Belgrade daily Danas writes today.

The incident sparked the riots which tore across the province for three days, but prosecutor Peter Tinsley, in a report apparently suppressed by UNMIK, says that no suspects had been identified as being involved in the deaths.

Albanian media reported widely that the boys had drowned when they jumped into the Ibar River to escape Serbs who were chasing them with a dog.

But, according to Danas, Tinsley says that there is no evidence to link any Serb with the events.

“The cause of death of the boys was drowning, but regardless of a major, intense effort, no suspects have been identified,” Danas quotes Tinsley’s report as saying.

The daily also quotes unnamed officials of the Kosovo Coordination Centre as saying that UNMIK has kept the report secret and under an embargo.