"After the arrest of the Serb for war crimes, after pressure at the police station, he showed the place where the killed civilians were buried. The state immediately went to the scene. In Drenas, a grave with the bodies of civilians killed on April 16, 1999 was found. The news has shocked the country and has aroused pain and emotions among the families of the victims, while investigations are continuing to find more killed civilians."
This is the inscription of a posting published on Sunday (April 19) on Facebook, by an account called "Lajme Nga Bota".
What's wrong with the inscription?
The inscription claims that “corpses of killed civilians” have been found, creating the impression of a mass grave with several bodies. However, according to information so far, only one body was found at the scene, which is suspected to belong to a person who went missing during the recent war in Kosovo. There is also no official confirmation that there is any connection between this case and the arrest of a war crimes suspect.
aCCOUNT who published the post has over 10 thousand followers and as of the moment of treatment, the content has more than 270 likes. From the content of some of the comments, it is estimated that readers are likely to perceive the claim as credible.
First, hibrid.info checked the Kosovo Police Facebook page, where this institution publishes information. Among the posts from the last few days on this page, only the announcement of the arrest of a suspected Kosovo citizen of Serbian nationality, on suspicion of committing the crime of War Crimes Against the Civilian Population (see here).
To find additional information, hibrid.info has researched both claims using the Google search engine.
Results after searching with the words "arrested for a crime", have featured articles published on Tuesday (April 14) by credible media outlets, reporting on the arrest of a Kosovo citizen of Serbian nationality, who is suspected of participating in the killing of 15 Albanian civilians in Skenderaj during the war, as a former member of the MUP (see here and here).
Whereas, from SEARCHING Another article with the words “drenas” was found, published on Friday (April 17), reporting on the discovery of mortal remains in the village of Negrovc in Drenas, which are suspected to belong to a person who went missing during the 1998–1999 war (see here and here).
In the reports regarding these events, no connection between them has been confirmed.
Based on these investigations, it turns out that the claim of "civilian bodies" does not match the information so far, as only one body found in Drenas has been reported, for which identification investigations are underway. Also, there is no confirmation that the investigations into this case have been initiated as a result of the arrest of the war crimes suspect in Skenderaj.
Analyze:
The claim that after the arrest of a war crimes suspect he discovered the location of mass graves and that "civilian bodies" were found in Drenas is not accurate.
The inscription is based on an incorrect and unconfirmed interpretation of two separate events: the arrest of a war crimes suspect in Skenderaj and the discovery of mortal remains in Drenas.
According to information so far, there is no official confirmation that these two events are related, nor that the discovery of the remains is the result of any statement by the arrested person. Also, the claim of "civilian bodies" does not match the reports, as it has only been announced that one body was found, for which identification investigations are underway.
Based on its work 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.