"There is a suspected mass grave in the foundations of the cathedral church in Pristina, where work on this church was stopped once and for all in 1998 at a time when the war in Kosovo was taking place. It is suspected that the students killed during the beginning of the war were concreted in the foundations of this church." This is the inscription of a posting published on Saturday (August 1) on Facebook, by the account named "Lajme Nga Bota".
The claim was published through an image of the object. Orthodox Church (and no cathedral) located on the premises of the University of Pristina (UP).
What is known so far?
The suspicions presented in this publication have not been confirmed by the relevant institutions.
As of the time of writing, this content has received over 390 reactions and over 180 comments. The publisher of the claim has over 11 followers, while publications from this account have in some cases been assessed as misinformation (see here, here and here).
To verify the claim, the official source of information of the competent institution was first checked, namely the website of the “Prosecutorial System” of Kosovo (see here).
The most recent announcements are dated August 2, in which the Kosovo Police (KP) and the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo (SPRK) announced that, within the framework of the investigations into the suspected case of war crimes in the municipality of Zubin Potok, a person suspected of the criminal offense of “War crimes against the civilian population” has been arrested (see here).
During the investigative actions on the ground, the authorities have also identified a suspected location in the village of Jabukë, where it is suspected that there may be mortal remains. The SPRK has announced that it will address the Basic Court in Prishtina to request authorization for the exhumation and conduct of the necessary examinations (see here).
Prior to these two announcements, hibrid.info found a press release published on July 28, which announced that, by order of the Basic Court in Pristina, the competent institutions were carrying out an exhumation at a location in the municipality of Zubin Potok, with the aim of identifying the mortal remains.
This process was taking place within the framework of two criminal investigations led by the Special Prosecution (see here).
Furthermore, hibrid.info has researched through the search engine "Google", using the keywords "'orthodox church' 'University of Pristina' 'mass grave'" (see here). The search results showed several articles from reliable sources reporting on these suspicions (see here), for which excavations had begun in that area in 2016 (see here).
Additional research found that excavations in this area had ended without results (see here).
In June 2022, an article by Radio Free Europe reported that the legal battle between the University of Pristina and the Serbian Orthodox Church had entered its tenth year, without a final epilogue regarding the ownership of the land and the fate of the unfinished building on the university campus. According to data published at the time, the legal proceedings initiated after 2017 were still in the procedural and preparatory stages, while the public debate included various proposals from student representatives and historians for the possible transformation of the space, proposals that were opposed by representatives of the Orthodox Church (see here).
While excavations in Zubin Potok are continuing, so far there has been no official announcement from the competent institutions about the start of excavations in the Orthodox church in the UP courtyard or in any other location within the university premises.
Analyze:
A Facebook account has published content claiming that a mass grave exists in the foundations of the Orthodox church on the grounds of the University of Pristina and that students killed at the beginning of the war in Kosovo were buried in concrete in this facility.
The claim is accompanied by a photograph of the Orthodox church in the UP courtyard, while the description claims that work on this facility was stopped in 1998, linking their interruption to suspicions of hiding bodies.
However, verification of public sources shows that suspicions about the existence of a possible location where war victims could have been buried in this area have existed before. In 2016, competent institutions conducted excavations in the vicinity of this facility, following reports of the possible presence of mortal remains.
These searches, according to published data, have not resulted in the discovery of mortal remains or confirmation of the existence of a mass grave at that location.
Also, up until the moment of addressing this content, there has been no new official announcement from the competent institutions regarding the development of new investigations or excavations in this area.
Therefore, based on the working methodology, hibrid.info assesses the content as "Manipulation of facts".
Reasoning:
“Factual manipulation” is a rating given to informational content that uses facts known to be accurate but interprets them in a distorted manner. These reports typically use accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, thereby misleading consumers of media content about the actual meaning of the facts presented.