The discovery of the Batajnica mass graves

On 25 May 2001 a Serbian Interior Ministry working group disclosed that bodies of Kosovo Albanians had been secretly transported to Serbia in 1999 and buried. Exhumations at the SAJ centre in Batajnica began on 2 June 2001 and continued until December 2002.

Judicially establishedAfter June 1999JusticePostwar

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The ICTY found that the transport and clandestine burial were a coordinated operation to remove evidence of crimes by Serbian forces, conducted under the direction of Vlastimir Đorđević [1]. The count depends on method: ICMP monitors recorded 705 complete bodies; UNMIK's OMPF re-examination found 744, the figure also used by the ICTY [2] [3].

How do we know this?

The ICTY found that the bodies of Albanians killed in Kosovo were transported and secretly buried in Serbia, including 744 at Batajnica, to remove evidence.
Evidence status: Judicially established. Established in a final court judgment. It covers only what the court found, not every later interpretation.Last reviewed: 16 September 2026
The ICMP recorded 705 complete bodies; 744 is the figure after OMPF re-examination.

Sources

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

Last reviewed: 16 September 2026

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