The War Crimes Prosecution has discovered a "potential mass grave" in Rudnica, near Raska in southern Serbia, in which, according to witness statements, there are 250 bodies of Kosovo Albanians, War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said on May 10.

"The War Crimes Prosecution, in cooperation with EULEX, has discovered a site which according to our evaluation contains a mass grave. According to witness statements, the bodies of 250 Kosovo Albanians were buried here," said Vukcevic at a press conference in Belgrade.

The mass grave is located on the right-hand side of the Leposavic-Raska road and according to the investigation carried out on May 11, the grave is located on the grounds of the company Kosmet Put, partly under the parking area in front of the building which was built after the armed conflict in 1999, and partly under the building.

Vukcevic said he expected that the excavation of the site would begin soon and that for now no one knew who had killed the people and buried their bodies.

He said that in this way Serbia was demonstrating that it was democratic and had decided to fully investigate every crime, regardless of who committed the crime or who was the victim. "I believe that this is the best path to reconciliation in the region," said the Serbian prosecutor.

Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said that since the democratic changes in 2000, this was the sixth grave discovered on the territory of Serbia and that it was most likely the second largest according to the number of victims, after the one in the Batajnica suburb of Belgrade which was discovered in 2001.

According to the Prosecution, there were three primary graves on the territory of Kosovo from which the bodies of victims were dug up in 1999 and transported to the territory of Serbia.

Minister of Justice Snezana Malovic stated today that the discovery of a possible mass grave in Raska with remains of over 250 Kosovo Albanians is of extreme importance for determining the truth about crimes committed in the province.

Malovic told the Beta news agency that Serbia is fully prepared to uncover the truth about all missing persons in Kosovo-Metohija and bring to justice all perpetrators of these crimes.

The Minister said she expects the investigation to intensify in order to shed some light on the fate of around 2,000 missing Serbs and Albanians from the province.

She reiterated that Serbia is clearly committed to and invests maximum efforts in finding and punishing perpetrators of all war crimes, regardless of their nationality or position they may occupy.

By discovering a possible mass grave in Raska, Serbia once again showed its clear stance towards its past and sent a message that these things will not be repeated, the Minister said.