LaLota Renews Effort to Get Justice for Hampton Bays Men Killed Abroad in '99

U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Rocky Point) has renewed efforts to hold members of the Serbian military accountable for the murders of three Hampton Bays men two decades ago.

Ylli, Agron, and Mehmet Bytyqi, who mistakenly crossed into Serbia shortly after a truce was signed in the 1999 Kosovo war, were detained by a special operations unit and executed after a judge ordered their release. Their bodies were found nearly two years after their detainment. There have been prior investigations by the Serbian government into the brothers’ deaths, but no charges were ever brought.

“Unpunished war criminals brutally executed the Bytyqi brothers during the Kosovo War,” LaLota said in a press conference alongside members of the Bytyqi family. “Now, over 20 years later, their family in Suffolk County still has yet to see justice.”

In 2018, the U.S. State Department accused Serbian general Goran Radosavljevic of “gross implication of human rights,” stating he was “credibly implicated” in the murders.

The bill states “the United States should devote sufficient resources to fully assist and properly monitor efforts by the government of Serbia and its relevant ministries and offices to investigate and prosecute as soon as possible those individuals believed to be responsible for their deaths …”

“Twenty-four years have gone by, and the Serbian government has held no one accountable for the death of my brothers,” said Ilir Bytyqi, a sibling of the brothers.

“This resolution overwhelmingly passed the House last Congress and I expect my colleagues to support it once again,” LaLota added, noting that the prior bill died in the U.S. Senate. “This family has suffered long enough, let’s deliver for them the closure they rightfully deserve.”