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MISSING PERSONS IN

SOUTHEAST EUROPE

HEARINGS

BEFORE THE

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND

COOPERATION IN EUROPE

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

Printed for the use of the

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

AUGUST 1, 2003 AND SEPTEMBER 18, 2003

[CSCE 108–1–3]
(ii)

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS

HOUSE

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey

Chairman

FRANK R. WOLF, Virginia

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania

ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama

ANNE M. NORTHUP, Kentucky

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland

LOUISE MCINTOSH SLAUGHTER, New York

ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida

Vacant

SENATE

BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado

Co-Chairman

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas

GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas

SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia

CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut

BOB GRAHAM, Florida

RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS

LORNE W. CRANER, Department of State

JACK DYER CROUCH II, Department of Defense

WILLIAM HENRY LASH III, Department of Commerce
(iii)

MISSING PERSONS IN

SOUTHEAST EUROPE

PART I: AUGUST 1, 2003

COMMISSIONERS

PAGE

Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman .................................................................1

WITNESSES

Gordana Jaksic, Member, Board of Directors, Association of Parents and

Families of the Arrested, Captured and Missing, Novi Sad, Serbia ........3

Cedomir Maric, President, The Association of Families of

Missing Persons from Krajina, Belgrade, Serbia ..........................................5

Olgica Bozanic, Member of the Presidency, Association of Family

Members of Missing and Kidnapped Individuals, Belgrade, Serbia .......6

Verica Tomanovic, Member of the Presidency, Association of Family

Members of Missing and Kidnaped Individuals, Belgrade, Serbia...........8

APPENDICES

Prepared Statement of Hon. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Co-Chairman,

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe .................................16

Materials Submitted for the Record by His Excellency Ivan Vujacic,

Ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro to the United States,

“The Activities of the Coordination Center of Serbia and Montenegro

and the Republic of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohia, and of the

Committee of the Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro

for Humanitarian Issues and Missing Persons, in Resolving

the Problem of Missing and Kidnapped Persons” .......................................17

PART II: SEPTEMBER 18, 2003

Note: Hearing proceedings were cancelled due to Federal Government closure.

Witness Biographies ...............................................................................................22

COMMISSIONERS

Prepared Statement of Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman....................24

Prepared Statement of Hon. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Co-Chairman .....25

Prepared Statement of Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Ranking Member ..........26

WITNESSES

Prepared Statement of Sheremet Ademi, Chairman, Mitrovica-based

NGO “Memory” and Kosovar Association of Families of the Missing,

and Advisor to the United Nations Mission in Kosovo [UNMIK]

on Issues Relating to Missing Persons ..........................................................27

Prepared Statement of Nesrete Kumnova, President,

Gjakova-based NGO “Mothers Appeal” ........................................................30

Prepared Statement of Agron Limani, President,

“26 Marsi 1999” association based in Krusha e Vogel ..............................31

Prepared Statement of Mehmetali Perolli, Head, Gjakova-based

Office of the Imprisoned and Missing People ...............................................51
MISSING PERSONS IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE

PART I

AUGUST 1, 2003

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

WASHINGTON, DC

The Commission met in Room 334, Cannon House Office Building,

Washington, DC, at 9:15 a.m., Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman,

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, presiding.

Commissioners present: Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Witnesses present: Gordana Jaksic, Member of the Board of Directors, Association of Parents and Families of the Arrested, Captured and

Missing, Novi Sad, Serbia; Cedomir Maric, President, The Association

of Families of Missing Persons from Krajina, Belgrade, Serbia; Olgica

Bozanic, Member of the Presidency, Association of Family Members of

Missing and Kidnapped Individuals, Belgrade, Serbia; and Verica

Tomanovic, Member of the Presidency, Association of Family Members

of Missing and Kidnaped Individuals, Belgrade, Serbia.

HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, CHAIRMAN,

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

Mr. SMITH. The hearing will come to order and good morning to everybody.

Today’s hearing of the Helsinki Commission is focusing on the plight

of those in Southeastern Europe who have relatives and loved ones missing as a result of the conflicts associated with Yugoslavia’s disintegration in the 1990s. The personal and heart-rending stories we will hear

today are an important reminder that the wounds of war have a lasting

and deep impact on societies. Families feel the pain, not only in this

generation, but right on to the next.

Our panel consists of four individuals. Two of our panelists are from

Kosovo and remain displaced from their original homes. One has many

family members who were abducted by Kosovar militants in 1998 before NATO intervention, and the other has a family member who was

abducted in June of 1999, immediately after the NATO intervention.

Regarding the two other panelists, one is originally from Croatia,

with a family member missing since being captured by Croatian troops

retaking the Krajina area in 1995. The last individual is from Serbia

proper, with a family member captured in Bosnia, while serving in the

Yugoslav Army, and last known to have been held in Croatia.
2

The group is here today on the State Department’s international visitors program, and is being organized by Meridian International Center.

The Commission is very grateful that they are available for this hearing this morning.

It is estimated that as many as 40,000 persons are missing as a result of a decade of deadly conflict in the former Yugoslavia beginning in

1991. Mass graves continue to be uncovered like the one in Republika

Srpska reported just two days ago. All the while, the quest for information on lost relatives continues with government officials and possible

witnesses to the acts of war or crimes. In some cases the quest for truth

and the unknown about the fate of loved ones have brought together

individuals representing a variety of ethnic groups.

Our panelists today all happen to be Serbs, but their ethnic background, frankly, is irrelevant. Families are the same the world over,

with hopes and dreams shared with parents and siblings, spouses and

children. When we hear their personal testimonies this morning, we

can and we must empathize with their shattered dreams and their shattered hopes. When we hear your stories this morning, we will join you

ever more earnestly in the quest for truth.

In addition to their own stories, these individuals represent nongovernmental organizations composed of others who want to find answers

to questions about the fate of friends and relatives. They are part of civil

society, individuals seeking healing for their losses. We are also asking

them to speak about these groups and their ability to communicate

with their own government, with authorities of other countries of concern, and the international community in advocating their cause.

Of course, this hearing touches on only one aspect of the larger issue

of missing persons in Southeastern Europe. The Commission considers

this issue a very high priority. Like the prosecution of war crimes and

crimes against humanity, the resolution of missing persons cases can

help bring at least some closure and help individuals recover from their

tragic loss.

On this day, the 28th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final

Act, nothing is more appropriate for the Helsinki Commission than to

have a public hearing not about policies and programs, but about real

people who have suffered so much.

I welcome our panel to the hearing this morning. Due the House of

Representatives not being in session, and the unavoidably short notice

for this hearing, the turnout to hear your testimony is admittedly limited. I can assure you, however, that in addition to the media coverage

that we have here, your testimony will be transcribed and available on

our Commission’s web site and will be widely disseminated to Members

of the House, the Senate and to the executive branch. It should be on

our web site by Monday.

We will undertake other efforts as well to ensure that your concerns

that you will raise today are heard by the highest number of people and

the widest possible audience.

First, we will hear from Gordana Jaksic, who is from Serbia, and

previously worked with the internal revenue service office in her country. Her son was serving his one year of service in the Yugoslav Army

in 1992 when he was sent to Bosnia. There he was captured and moved

to Croatia where he was last seen. Ms. Jaksic is a member of the board

of directors of the Association of Parents and Families of the Arrested,

Captured and Missing.
3

Next, we will hear from Cedomir Maric, formerly a high school teacher

in what is today Croatia. His son has been missing since 1995, when

Croatia re-took the Krajina region. He is president of the Association of

Families of Missing Persons in Krajina.

We will then hear from Olgica Bozanic, who is from Kosovo, where

she worked for a pharmaceutical company. Displaced by the situation

in Kosovo, she has been widely regarded and respected as an advocate

not only of learning the fate of 14 members of her own family missing

since 1998, but of other missing persons and their families. She is a

colleague of Ms. Tomanovic of the Presidency of the Association of Family Members and Missing and Kidnapped Individuals.

Finally, we will hear from Verica Tomanovic, the wife of university

professor Andrija Tomanovic, who was abducted in Pristina, Kosovo in

June of 1999, despite the presence of KFOR. She herself is a retired

history teacher and a member of the Presidency of the Association of

Family Members of Missing and Kidnapped Individuals.

Finally, I would like to note the presence this morning of Ambassador

of Serbia and Montenegro to the United States, Ambassador Vujacic.

Mr. Ambassador, we are very glad to see you and we are grateful that

you came here. We look forward to hearing you. You made a submission

that we will make a part of the record as well and we thank you for

that.

I would like now to ask our first witness if she would begin her testimony.

GORDANA JAKSIC, MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS,

ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS AND FAMILIES OF THE ARRESTED,

CAPTURED AND MISSING, NOVI SAD, SERBIA

Ms. JAKSIC [Through interpreter]. Honorable Congressmen, I want

to thank you and everybody else who appeared here today to hear our

story about our suffering. It is very difficult after 11 years to collect our

thoughts and to present our story, but I will try to do it this morning. I

will try to use this short time allowed to me to present my pain to

everybody here. I have given a great promise to myself today that I will

not shed a tear. I hope I will be strong enough to fulfill it. My name is

Gordana Jaksic. I represent an association of the captured and disappeared people of Serbia-Montenegro. Our association is looking for 560

people who disappeared in the far gone 1991 and 1992. I want to emphasize the story of the group called “54 Plus 19.” All these people were

captured alive and we have plenty of evidence for that.

I want to talk about the destiny of the Serbs of Vukovar, the group of

19 Serbs who disappeared and we still do not know anything about their

fate. Croatian police even before any war started, any fighting started,

entered houses and workplaces of more prominent Serbs and they were

all taken away. All of those people who abducted those Serbs are still

walking around freely in Croatia today, but the destiny or the fate of

those poor 19 people is still unknown.

I want to talk about the group from Savnic and Niksic, 13 reservists

of the Serbian or the Yugoslav National Army who were also abducted.

They were captured in April of 1992 in Mostar in Herzegovina. They

were taken to a very bad prison called Lora, in Split, where they were

brutally tortured and murdered. I want to give you a couple of examples

of what happened to them. Their ears were cut off. On their foreheads
4

they carved Cyrillic letters, the S letters. I do not want to mention any

more of these horrible deeds. This case has been very well known in

Croatia, but the tribunal in The Hague never did anything about it.

The case was allowed to be tried in Croatia, and it turned into a mockery.

We are looking for five pilots of the Yugoslav People’s Army. We have

evidence that two of them were captured alive by the Croatian forces.

There are many individual cases, but I will talk about one. It is a personal tragedy that I am suffering. My son, Slobodan Jaksic, was captured on May 2, 1992. He was a conscript of the Yugoslav People’s Army.

He was not even 19 years old. Together with him, nine other soldiers

were captured. I emphasize that this is the Yugoslav People’s Army

because all nationalities were represented in it at that time. With them,

there was a soldier of Croatian ethnicity, Sinisa Fris, but one day after

their capture, he was freed because he was Croatian.

We have lots of witnesses about this, and three soldiers who were

exchanged in June. In June of that year, they testified that they were

with our children and they were alive. I also have a tape, a video recording, which I kept copies from TV broadcast showing prisoners in a

Croatian camp in Bosanski Brod.

I want to emphasize that my son was captured by the Croatian forces

in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This was the Croatian Army, which was in the

territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and then they were transferred to

Slavonski Brod, which is in Croatia. They were kept there for four or

five days. Unfortunately, later the group that my son was with was

brought back to Bosanski Brod. I also want time to say the fact that all

of this happened before the date for withdrawal of the Yugoslav People’s

Army expired.

I could talk to you for days. Eleven years is a very long time, but

before I close I would like to thank the American Ambassador to Serbia

and Montenegro in Belgrade, Mr. Montgomery, who made it possible for

us to go out of our country so that for the first time the rest of the world

can hear our truth. I want to thank also the people who came here

today. I want to say that I do not ask for pity. I do not need anyone’s

pity. I want to awake in people’s minds and consciousness so that they

raise their voices with mine so that we can reach that truth.

I beg you to use all of your influence to help us, so that we can reach

the basic human right, the right to truth.

Thank you very much.

Mr. SMITH. Ms. Jaksic, thank you very much for that moving testimony. You have the Commission’s sympathy. Increasingly you have

our understanding because I think that there is much more that we

need to be doing in this area. Your presence here and the presence of

your friends, the three additional witnesses, helps to focus our attention on this very important issue. We have raised it in the past, but I

think the time has come for closure, and the only way that there will be

closure is if the political will exists on all sides to get to the bottom of

this.

We have in America, as you know, our own POW-MIA issue left over

from the Vietnam War as well as the Korean War. The difference here

is that we had no access to that battlefield. There are still 1,948 MIAs

from that American conflict in Vietnam about which we know very

little. At least here we have access to each of these countries, like Croatia.

It seems to me that this ought to be easier, rather than more difficult.
5

The agony of the families that I have met with over the many years in

this room from America’s conflict in Vietnam really raises, or underscores that we have got to be much more aggressive in trying to get to

the bottom of this.

So I would pledge to you and to your colleagues and your friends that

we will do more. We have raised it before, but we will do more. Your

presence here today is the catalyst for that.

I would like to now ask Mr. Maric if he would present his testimony.

CEDOMIR MARIC, PRESIDENT,

THE ASSOCIATION OF FAMILIES OF MISSING PERSONS

FROM KRAJINA, BELGRADE, SERBIA

Mr. MARIC [Through interpreter]. Thank you very much, honorable

Congressman. Thank you very much for giving us this opportunity to

express our truth in this House so that we can talk about our stories,

our tragedy that has lasted 10 or more years. I want to thank everybody present who came to hear our stories. I hope that our stories will

come out of the chains in which they were shackled for more than 10

years.

My name is Cedomir Maric. I represent an association of the families

of the missing people from Krajina, within the Republic of Croatia. I

represent 2,824 families. All of them are refugees in Yugoslavia. Some

of them are not in Yugoslavia anymore. They have gone all over the

world, many of them to the United States. After 1995, a large number

of families immigrated as refugees to this country.

In the period between 1991 to 1995, 6,179 people were either killed or

disappeared in Croatia. Serbs have disappeared; 2,264 were civilians;

885 were women; and 28 children below the age of 14. The disappearance of the Serbs in Croatia started in 1991. Prominent Serb citizens

were taken away. They were taken from the cities where they lived, for

example in Vukovar, Gospic, and even in Zagreb. In 1991, there were

already 2,219 Serbs who disappeared in Croatia.

We who lived in Croatia at that time understood this as a threat. The

largest number of dead people and the disappeared happened in 1995—

2,310. All of this happened during the very famous operations of the

Croatian military called Lightning and Storm. The first exodus happened in Western Slavonia, where all Serbs were ethnically cleansed,

and then later the rest were cleansed from Krajina. Even though 8

years have passed since the war ended, we still do not know the fate of

2,224 people.

Since 1995, my dedication to this problem, this was caused by the

disappearance of my son, Zelimir. In August 1995, he was captured in

Knin where we lived in Krajina, in Croatia. Since then, my struggle

has been to find anything about what happened to my son—but not only

about my son, but about all other sons and children who are on this

long list. All of those years I have tried to be strong and to keep on.

Thank God so far I have managed to do this, because something in me

kept me strong, and this thing that is strong is the pain for my lost son.

This is the source of my strength, that gives me the strength to continue and to remain sane and reasonable so that I can help other families as well—those families who are suffering greatly and cannot do the

same thing as the time passes since their sons or families have been

gone.
6

Our struggle has been going on for 8 years, but it will continue until

we find our loved ones. Our wish is to find our loved ones. As time

passes, we become more conscious of the fact that maybe we will not

reach the day, we will not live to see the day when we wait for them at

home and they come back alive, but we want to continue the struggle to

get the remains of our children, so that we know where we can bury

them and go to light the candle according to our rite.

I want to use this opportunity to appeal that the transfer of the remains stop from one grave to another. This is done so that the truth is

blocked, or to cover up a crime. My goal here is not to talk about a

crime, but I want to talk about those things that limit us in our search

for the truth. I will give you an example of a place called Paulin-Dvor in

Croatia which will testify to the fact that this removal of remains from

one grave site to another exists.

In 1991, 19 civilians were killed in Paulin-Dvor. Six women were

among these civilians. The youngest one was 37 years old and the oldest

was 83 years old. In 1997, during the night, their remains were exhumed. They were put in plastic barrels and transferred far away to

the mountains of Velebit. The families were lucky (if I may use this

word that they were lucky under these conditions). Thanks to the help

from the Tribunal in The Hague, the remains were recovered, and on

the July 15 this year, their remains were buried in a dignified manner.

Once more, I want to appeal that we stop these things from happening. This will be the greatest help for us to find the truth.

In the end, I want to thank Mr. Montgomery, the Ambassador of the

United States in Belgrade, who made it possible for our story, for our

truth, to be heard here. As sad and sorrowful as it can be, but this is

our story. I want to thank you for your patience in hearing us.

Thanks.

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Maric, thank you very much for your testimony and

for your tenacity in dealing with your pain in such a constructive way,

not only to help your own son, but also to try to help so many others

who are so paralyzed, as you point out, by their own grief that they are

unable to do so. So you are doing a great humanitarian effort.

Your point about the transfer of graves is something that I had not

heard before and we will take that up, so we do appreciate your insight

on that.

Ms. Bozanic?

OLGICA BOZANIC, MEMBER OF THE PRESIDENCY,

ASSOCIATION OF FAMILY MEMBERS OF MISSING AND

 KIDNAPPED INDIVIDUALS, BELGRADE, SERBIA

Ms. BOZANIC [Through interpreter]. My name is Olgica Bozanic,

maiden name Kostic. I want to thank the Honorable Congressman Smith

for making it possible for us, and for me, to tell my truthful story in

this House. I want to thank everybody who came here who found time

to hear our story, our truth.

I want to represent an association of the families of the missing people

from Kosovo and Metohija from 1998 until this very day. Personally, I

have participated in all activities of this association because of my personal tragedy. I am searching for 14 members of my closest family, of

the Kostic family, among whom are my two brothers, Todor and Lazar.

I am also searching for all the kidnapped people who are on the list of

our association.
7

I want to emphasize the fact that kidnappings and abductions of Serbs

in Kosovo and Metohija started in the spring of 1998 before the war

started in Kosovo and for the rest of the world to make reference that

this happened before the Racak tragedy happened. Serbs were kidnapped

everywhere. They were stopped along the roads of Kosovo. They were

taken from buses, from public places, from their houses, from their

fields where they were farming, regardless of their age and regardless

of their occupation.

One of the most drastic cases happened in the period between July

17–24, 1998, when the KLA attacked the city of Orahovac and the villages in the vicinity of Velika Hoca, Racak, Retimlje, Zociste, Opterusa,

and some other villages. This is the case of my family tragedy. During

the attack of Orahovac, in this attack the KLA captured and took to

their camps the whole population of two villages, Opterusa and Retimlje.

Around 100 civilians, citizens of this area, people who lived in this

municipality, were kidnapped.

On July 22, 1998, a delegation of the International Red Cross came

from Pristina and liberated 35 civilians. My mother was in this group.

My grandmother was in this group, and all my aunts and some elderly

men as well, from the villages of Zociste, Opterusa, and Retimlje, together with eight monks from the Zociste monastery.

We still have hope that our loved ones are alive because there are

witnesses who survived the capture and release, and we have some

other cases where people were captured and put in those camps for a

couple of days and exchanged later, and they are still alive today. They

testified before the investigators of the International Criminal Tribunal

for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Everybody—even those who

were released from the camps—still has somebody who is in the camps,

who remains in the camps, and we still have no information about our

loved ones.

During this period of time, in 1998, the mission [OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission] led by William Walker was in Kosovo and Metohija.

We had a couple of meetings with him. We had no results regarding the

case of my family. This is the OSCE mission in Kosovo, and they liberated two journalists from camp number eight. This gave us hope that

our people, our family members were in some other camp and alive.

The family members of the captured people gathered together and

organized a march of peace, and in 1998 in December we walked about

10 miles on foot, marching to the village of Dragobilje to negotiate with

the KLA members in that area. The purpose was to try to get the release of the kidnapped people from them. We did not succeed, unfortunately.

The brothers Savelic were released by OSCE. One of them died soon

afterwards from the torture he suffered, but his brother is still alive.

He can testify and tell the story, his Golgotha. Our hope that our people

are alive does not stop. We keep getting information that there are still

camps in existence. September 11, 1998, is a very memorable day for

my family because this is the day when the commanders of the KLA

used a group of my family who were kidnapped as hostages to provide

safe passage for them through Montenegro to Albania.

Unfortunately, after the peacekeepers arrived in Kosovo and Metohija,

I had to leave my home town of Orahovac because I feared that my

children would share the fate of my brothers and the rest of my family.

But my struggle has not stopped, even though I am living in exile now

as a refugee.
8

We met mostly on the premises of the International Committee of the

Red Cross and their service for searching for missing people. Mr. Peter

Stocker was very understanding of our suffering, and he helped us create this association. We are functioning today.

We kept getting witnesses and evidence from the people who survived

the camps in 1999. These are individual people and whole groups. Since

I do not have much time here, I hope that you will be willing afterwards

to receive information from us—the testimonies of the people who were

in camps and who can testify about their suffering.

In the presence of the peacekeepers, whole families were kidnapped

and massacred. The most drastic case is the village of Dojnice. This

was the same fate that my village went through when one day 17 Serbs

were kidnapped. Only one remained to testify. We do not know anything about those people either. There are many drastic cases all over.

I do not have time to talk about them all. But I want to tell you that we

have managed in our country to raise our problem to the level of the

state, to make it national. So we managed to get access to the diplomats

of other countries in our country and representatives of the international community.

We met Mrs. Carla Del Ponte a couple of times. I begged her to shorten

my suffering and at least indict the kidnappers. We have testimonies of

eyewitnesses who testified about the kidnappings. I wanted to have them

arrested because my family is dying out. Eight of the survivors have

already withered away from suffering and pain and have died. I wanted

to achieve something while people in my family were still alive, but

Carla Del Ponte answered that they cannot arrest anybody or indict

anybody because they have no evidence. I asked what they considered

as evidence. I was told that if there are no bodies, there is no evidence.

I beg you to shorten our agony and our suffering so that the correct

way is found, so that we can find the truth. My colleague will talk about

our association.

I want to thank you for your understanding. Moreover, I would like to

thank Ambassador Montgomery for his understanding because he understood my goal and shared my suffering. He made it possible for me

to cross the ocean so that the rest of the world could hear this true story

about the suffering of the Serbian people.

Thank you all.

Mr. SMITH. Ms. Bozanic, thank you very much for your testimony.

Frankly, we will be sure to advise Ambassador Montgomery on all of

your very kind remarks that you have made regarding him. I think it

speaks well of our ambassador that all of you have mentioned, both

previously when we met in my office and again today, his good work. I

think he will be encouraged and I think he will want to do even more,

frankly, as does this Commission.

So thank you for your testimony.

Ms. Tomanovic?

VERICA TOMANOVIC, MEMBER OF THE PRESIDENCY,

ASSOCIATION OF FAMILY MEMBERS OF MISSING AND

KIDNAPED INDIVIDUALS, BELGRADE, SERBIA.

Ms. TOMANOVIC [through interpreter]. My name is Verica Tomanovic,

professor of the school of music in Pristina, temporarily exiled to

Belgrade.
9

In the name of 1,303 families of people who were kidnapped in Kosovo

and Metohija from 1998 up to today, I want to express my great gratitude and our great gratitude to you, Mr. Smith, for making it possible

for us to come out publicly with the truth about the suffering of the

Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.

Our organization was established in March 2000 after useless individual struggles to find out anything about our kidnapped loved ones.

We went to all bodies of power in our country. We went to all international organizations, to humanitarian organizations. We visited with

all statesmen and chiefs of missions of the United Nations. We talked

to the International Red Cross and everybody else.

We are a nongovernmental humanitarian organization, and our only

goal is to find the truth about the fate of our loved ones. We believe that

our problem is the problem of 1,303 families of the people who disappeared in Kosovo and Metohija. There are many processes going on in

Kosovo right now—processes of reintegration, processes of creating new

institutions and trying to establish security and safety for everybody

who lives there—but we want this question to be the priority for everybody, the question of the disappeared, because it has been thousands of

nights for some mothers, who have not slept at all since their loved ones

disappeared. There are children who are waiting for their fathers. There

is so much pain and suffering, and this anxiety is more horrible than

any truth.

We beg you to use all of your forces so that we can find the truth. As

I said, there are 1,303 families who have complete data about the manner of kidnapping—the place and the time and, in many cases, the

names of the kidnappers. One hundred and fifty people we found out

have been killed out of this number. Three hundred and sixty-four managed to escape somehow or were exchanged. We are still looking for 789

people.

You heard the story about 1998 when innocent civilians were kidnapped and abducted and taken away. The first large group was kidnapped on May 14, 1998. These were miners who were at work in the

mine near Obilic, close to Pristina. The next great tragedy was the

tragedy of the citizens of the city of Orahovac and nearby villages. This

is the story of the Kostic family. These are abductions of civilians. There

were no reasons for those people to be kidnapped. These people were

citizens of the villages. They were kidnapped because they were of a

different nationality. That was the reason they were taken away in an

unknown direction.

I want to focus specifically on the period following June 12, 1999.

This date is very important for all of our families, because around 90

percent of our people were kidnapped after the international peacekeeping forces came to Kosovo and Metohija.

My family suffered a tragedy, too. My husband, a great humanist,

Professor-Doctor Andrija Tomanovic, chief surgeon of the surgery section of the hospital in Pristina and the full-time professor at the School

of Medicine of Pristina, vice president of the Red Cross of Serbia and of

Kosovo and Metohija, stayed with his patients, trusting fully the proclaimed mission of the United Nations that he would be protected because Resolution 1244 guaranteed safety and security for everybody. He

remained in his hospital and he was kidnapped on the June 24, 1999 at

one o’clock in the afternoon from the hospital, even though they had to
10

take him through three checkpoints that were manned by British soldiers, and they were around the hospital. He was taken through it and

disappeared.

I have to mention that none of the organizations who were present in

Kosovo at that time ever reacted to those abductions and kidnappings. I

immediately went to the KFOR police. I talked to General Bailey. He

expressed his sorrow because he said that he met my husband personally. On the phone, he told me the following, “I had the honor of meeting

the most wonderful man in Kosovo and Metohija.”

After that, I appealed to the mission of the United Nations, the chief

of the UNMIK, the chief of KFOR. Never there was any answer. Two

days after my husband was kidnapped, the whole university, all the

professors of the university and all intelligentsia of Kosovo, of Pristina,

left the city.

All of these kidnappings and abductions had the same goal, which

was the cleansing of Kosovo and Metohija of Serbs, but we were good

neighbors to those people before. We tried to help them in any manner

possible and we did not expect this end. We still, in spite of everything,

appeal to the leaders of the Albanians to do their best and to show some

good will, to help our families to find and liberate all Serbs and other

non-Albanians.

I have to say that our association is a multi-ethnic association. We

are trying to find Serbs, Montenegrins, Muslims, Gypsies or Romany

people, Gorani people, and even Albanians have joined our association.

We do not make any differences between people. All we want is to have

the basic human right of every human being and that is the right to

live freely. We want everybody under the sun to live equally, and before

that to find the truth. We must find the truth about the members of our

families.

We want to appeal, in this House, to you to move all institutions, to

use all of your forces so that this problem of kidnapping, of the abducted, becomes a task of the highest priority before any other talks are

started in Kosovo and Metohija or are concluded in Kosovo and Metohija.

We came here with the purpose and the goal to remind everybody

that we want peace between nations. We know that this tragedy cannot

be forgotten, but our sufferings can be lessened. We want to find out

where our loved ones are, where our fathers, brothers are. We want to

bury the dead ones in a dignified manner. We ask you to help us. We

want to find peace for our souls.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Mr. SMITH. Mrs. Tomanovic, thank you very much for your very

moving testimony, and for all of you for raising this issue in such a

profound way.

When you mentioned, Ms. Tomanovic, that 90 percent of the kidnapping had occurred after the peacekeeping troops had arrived, that is a

very serious indictment, not just on the mission itself, but on our response, because obviously it did not all happen overnight. It happened

over the course of several weeks and months.

When you talked to General Bailey—is he the British commander?

Because Pristina was under the British control. I was wondering, what

did he actually do? He expressed solidarity, I am sure, with you and

said your husband is a great man, but what did he actually do?
11

Ms. TOMANOVIC [through interpreter]. He took some action. They

printed leaflets with a picture of my husband on them, and all police

stations had those leaflets and the picture of my husband on their walls.

They threw those leaflets from planes over the city, but we never received any answer after that. I have to emphasize that we have a very

active cooperation with the UNMIK office in Belgrade, but we are not

satisfied with this cooperation because there is no result. For four years,

we have not found anything. Only about 50 bodies have been returned,

and these bodies were given to us beheaded without legs and arms.

Sometimes we received just a couple of bones. On all the official forms

stating the reason of death, it says “unavailable” or “unknown.”

Mr. Maric asked me to ask you whether he can say something more.

Mr. SMITH. Please do.

Mr. MARIC [through interpreter]. I apologize for interrupting you,

but I think that this should be on the record.

I talk for 6,179 killed and disappeared Serbs in Croatia; 63 percent,

3,904 of the dead and the killed and the disappeared were within the

U.N.-protected zones, which the United Nations was supposed to protect, to keep safe. I thought that this fact is very important to be included, because I wanted to emphasize the trust and the belief of our

people in the United Nations, and this trust has been broken.

Thank you very much.

Ms. TOMANOVIC [through interpreter]. In this period, only 41 bodies

have been given to us. From 2001 until 2003, only 41 bodies, remains,

have been given to our families.

I would like to make sure that nobody misunderstands me. We are

not indicting anyone here. Somebody else will do it and make a list very

long. We just want to appeal to all people, in this case I mean Albanians. I want to tell them that we have remained the same as we have

been before. We still have the same friends. We count them as friends

as we hope that we will be able to meet with them and talk with them

freely.

I want to be in my city with my neighbors with whom I lived all my

life. I think that everybody who committed crimes should be indicted

and brought to trial, but the peaceful citizens should continue living

together next to each other as they have lived for centuries. We created

a multi-ethnic association because we live in a multi-ethnic society there

and we have accustomed ourselves to that.

Mr. SMITH. How many of the kidnappers have been hunted down and

indicted and convicted of crimes?

Ms. BOZANIC [through interpreter]. We have provided lists of kidnappers, together with the list of our kidnapped people, but not one has

been indicted or arrested. I personally had an opportunity to meet the

kidnappers of my family. On June 20, 2002, I went to Prizren, and this

was on the level of the Prizren municipality. The gentlemen from the

United Nations were present at this meeting. They observed this and

they listened to our talks. There was an investigator from The Hague

Tribunal present as well. Unfortunately, I did not find out anything

from the people accused of kidnapping because they denied that they

participated in kidnapping. They did not tell the truth. We have people

who are still alive who are witnesses and they named those people as

kidnappers.
12

For us, this means that UNMIK and the international community

has not helped Serbs—not once—to resolve even one case. I believe that

we can find the truth very quickly if those people who kidnapped our

loved ones are arrested. They have the answers. They took them from

us. They took them somewhere. They know who ordered them to do

this. In many cases, we know the names of the commanders. Whether

our people alive or dead, these people have the answers.

We ask you again to use your influence to transmit this message of

ours, this truth to others. I possess documents. I will leave them with

you. I have documentation about this meeting with the kidnappers. I

am begging you to help me to get them indicted so that we can find the

truth.

Thank you very much, and I apologize again for interrupting the

proceedings.

Mr. SMITH. Do not apologize. That is why we are here.

The point that you make, that no one has been indicted, can you

allow this impunity to continue? If one can kidnap, kill, maim, incarcerate and there is no penalty for that, the message that goes out is that

you can continue to kidnap, kill and maim because there is no penalty.

So we will press.

If, as you pointed out, initiating a prosecutorial effort is very likely to

yield results in terms of the whereabouts, whether individuals are dead

or alive, it seems to me that initiating that effort needs to be done very

much in earnest.

When I previously used the word “indictment” in regards to our mission, it was not to say there ought to be an indictment. It was to be used

in a more generic sense—that it is a blemish. It is a black mark on our

efforts if we are not pursuing aggressively those who commit such atrocities and continue to do it. I mean that figure, 90 percent of the kidnapped after the peacekeepers had arrived is a very, very serious fact,

and I would hope that we could get to the bottom of that and press for

indictments of those who have kidnapped and abused these individuals.

I do have two additional questions, then I will yield to Mr. Hand for

some questions that he might have.

The first is, the Embassy of Serbia and Montenegro, as I indicated

earlier, has provided a paper to us which we will make a part of the

record, summarizing the efforts of the government’s coordination center and the committee of the council of ministers for humanitarian issues and missing persons. It refers to recent agreements with the

Croatian Government and with the U.N. civilian force in Kosovo. My

question would be, do you believe these developments will lead to intensification of efforts to resolve the missing persons? Does it give you hope,

or has this not been an effective initiative?

All or any of you who would like to respond to that, please.

Ms. JAKSIC [through interpreter]. All I want to say is in one sentence

which will be a counter-question, actually. Do you think that after 12

years we would be here if they had done anything before?

TRANSLATOR. I just kept it clear because of the language. I did not

understand what she meant by “they.” She meant if the Croatian authorities and their Commission had done anything to help us, that do

not you think that we would be here if the Croatian authorities had

done anything before, not Serbian authorities.
13

Ms. JAKSIC [through interpreter]. All of those years, Croatia has had

the support of the international community, as opposed to Serbia and

Montenegro, which were constantly under some sort of pressure. Our

side has provided lots of answers to many cases. They have sent back

remains and excavated some grave sites. But our cases have not been

resolved. Not one case that happened in 1991 or 1992 has been resolved.

Mr. MARIC [through interpreter]. I would like to participate in answering your question, if I may, since we are talking about the questions or the problems that happened in Croatia. The first exhumations

in Croatia were in 2001 and they were done by The Hague war crimes

tribunal. They exhumed 301 bodies or remains. Again, under the pressure of the tribunal in The Hague, the Croatian Commission exhumed

some more sites, again in the presence of The Hague people, and in

Korenica they exhumed 28 bodies; in Gracac, 156 bodies. As I mentioned earlier, the Velebit group in the barrels, 19 bodies.

As my friend Gordana said, had there been any will on the Croatian

side, all of these things could have been done earlier and in a higher

number. During exhumations, we discovered that there had been much

concealment regarding the numbers of the killed, because there would

be one cross—one mark for the grave, and then unknown to everyone,

there would be three bodies buried in it.

Ms. BOZANIC [through interpreter]. I would like to say what this

government body can do, how they can help us in this organization. I

have been active from the very beginning of the creation of this bureau

for the missing and kidnapped people of Kosovo and Metohija. I have

participated in many meetings when we signed protocols with the

UNMIK. We, the members of the families, were the ones who were

pushing for any action. We are very well aware that we cannot do anything without working together with them. We have to cooperate. We

want to cooperate because we want to liberate those people and find the

truth, because they are the ones through whose channels we can have

communication. They are the diplomats who can visit and communicate. We are the ones who give them information, who give them the

facts. Only together can we come to the conclusion or to our goal.

Thank you very much.

Mr. SMITH. Let me ask one question. I know that you are running

out of time because you need to be at your next appointment I think at

11 o’clock. So I will be very brief. I have some additional questions, and

Mr. Hand, you may want to ask one as well. Then, if you could keep

your answers short.

Obviously, Mr. Maric, you made a point about the pain, which is so

obvious, but not fully appreciated, I think, by many people. You are

here. The four of you are strong. You are willing to speak out on behalf

of this terrible unresolved issue which affects you so deeply, and your

family members. But so many of the other family members are in paralysis, I am sure. Young people have to be hurt, perhaps because they

cannot process in their own minds the loss of a brother or a father or a

mother and other loved ones.

What do your organizations do with regards to that need? Obviously,

you are tenaciously looking to recover and to get an accounting and

hopefully to bring back, if they are incarcerated, your missing loved

ones. But do the organizations also provide emotional help? Is there a

great deal of unmet need that the international community needs to

assist on with regard to this terrible pain and this great wound?
14

Mr. MARIC [through interpreter]. Thank you.

Since those exhumations started, we have concentrated on preparing

the families for those processes. Our families have to go to identify the

remains in Zagreb. They have to go to the official court examiners office, the forensic science center. Our association organizes the following. We organize meetings before they go to identify those bodies. We

meet with those families. We invite pathologists and those people, forensic scientists who travel together with the families. We invite psychiatrists as well. We also invite representatives of the International

Red Cross. They also have representatives of our association who go

with them.

The main goal is to prepare those families for what is awaiting them

so that they can perform this identification process as well as possible,

and also that they can overcome their great grief and pain which will

hit them after this is done.

Mr. SMITH. Go ahead.

Mr. HAND. If I could ask very quickly, maybe one of the two of you

from Kosovo could answer, and then also one of you regarding Croatia.

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, our Co-Chairman, was unable to

be here, but he did provide a statement for the record. In that statement, he notes his efforts to try to improve law enforcement abilities in

Southeast Europe and throughout the OSCE region. Of course, law enforcement has a lot to do with investigating missing persons cases.

I was wondering specifically in Kosovo, and again if it could be maybe

just as short an answer as possible, maybe just yes or no, have you met

with the missing persons unit of the U.N. civilian police? Do you get

the sense that the people there have the ability to investigate cases and

that they are trying their best to resolve them?

Then in terms of Croatia, since the cases that you have raised were

related to abductions by the Croatian military or maybe paramilitary

units, have any of you have been able to actually meet with people in

the Croatian military, including maybe people who were there at the

time, and whether they have tried to be helpful or provide any additional answers, if not full answers, to the fate of the people you are

searching for.

So if we could just have two people maybe give a quick answer to

those questions. Thank you.

Ms. BOZANIC [through interpreter]. Yes.

Mr. MARIC [through interpreter]. No. There were no possibilities to

meet with anybody in Croatia.

Mr. HAND. Do they refuse? Have you tried?

Ms. JAKSIC [through interpreter]. The only opportunity we have had

in Croatia was a chance to meet with the president of their Commission

for the missing people. Once we met the prime minister, Mr. Kostovic.

They were very, very polite in listening to us, but there were no results.

Mr. SMITH. I know your next meeting will be with people from the

Pentagon. I would hope that you would raise that issue, because we do

have very strong military-to-military contacts. It seems to me that if

we are to have faith in the military of Croatia, the least they can do is to

be absolutely aggressive and thorough and transparent in resolving

missing persons issues as it relates to their military. So I would hope

that you would raise that. We will raise it and amplify your concerns in

that venue as well.
15

Again, I would love for this hearing to continue, but I know that you

are under a very tight time constraint. But I thank you so much for

your testimony. We will have a part two of this hearing at which we

will receive testimony from the U.S. Department of State and other

interested individuals, especially from the NGO community.

We will further energize and reinvigorate our efforts in this regard.

Your meeting here is timely and as much as I can say it, we all, our

hopes and our prayers are with you. We will do everything we can, and

God bless you, and thank you for your courage in coming forward the

way you have.

The hearing is adjourned.

[Whereupon, at 10:42 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
16

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

HON. BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, CO-CHAIRMAN,

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

Today’s hearing is on a topic of deep interest to me. While we are

saddened by the stories our witnesses will tell of relatives missing—

some for many, many years, we are also be inspired by their courage

and leadership as they forge ahead seeking truthful answers regarding

what happened not only to their loved ones but also to the loved ones of

the many others they represent.

Serving as Co-Chairman of this Commission, I have taken great interest in international civilian police and law enforcement efforts, in

southeastern Europe and elsewhere. In Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia, the

OSCE and other organizations have been working to build the capacity

for local police forces providing law and order and, at the same time,

respecting the rule of law themselves. In Kosovo, the United Nations

has also deployed its own civilian police force to do this job until such

time that the Kosovo Police Service can perform all these functions on

its own. I had the opportunity to visit the OSCE school for training

police cadets in Kosovo in 2001, and was impressed by the work being

done there.

The topic of today’s hearing, therefore, also interests me from this

perspective. Investigation of cases of missing persons is a task for law

enforcement agencies, and I would like to hear from the witnesses

whether police investigators, either local or international, have been of

any assistance to them in their search, and whether there might be

some opportunity here for our country and perhaps others to provide

the police and other law enforcement personnel with greater training

and expertise to investigate missing persons cases more thoroughly.

Of course, since most of the individual cases which the Commission

is examining today took place during a period of conflict, the circumstances surrounding these cases are more complex and involve a wide

variety of offices and organizations. Still, there is a role that law enforcement can and should play.

In closing, I express my hope that, through this hearing and other

efforts, the Commission will encourage the State Department and the

international community, to make the resolution of missing persons

cases, regardless of ethnicity, a priority task. Such would help promote

stability and reconciliation in the region. More importantly, though,

the families and communities involved would welcome the commitment

to uncover the facts.
17

MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

BY THE HIS EXCELLENCY IVAN VUJACIC, AMBASSADOR OF

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO TO THE UNITED STATES

THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COORDINATION CENTER

 OF SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

AND THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA FOR KOSOVO AND METOHIA,

AND OF THE COMMITTEE OF

THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

FOR HUMANITARIAN ISSUES AND MISSING PERSONS,

IN RESOLVING THE PROBLEM OF

MISSING AND KIDNAPPED PERSONS

After the political changes in the FR Yugoslavia, resolving the issue

of missing persons was given highest priority, as a humanitarian issue

of enormous significance for the families of the missing persons, but

also from the political point of view as an indicator of actual democratization of the society and the state, its readiness to respect human rights

and achieve highest standards of their protection. The issue of the missing persons is directly related to the resolution of other humanitarian

and political issues, such as the return of internally displaced persons

and refugees, the rebuilding of confidence between nations, ethnic and

religious communities and normalization of political relations between

states in the territory of former SFRY.

The uncertain destiny of families whose members are missing in the

territory of former Yugoslavia has persisted for over a decade. This

uncertainty is no longer a tragedy just for the families, but it endangers the overall efforts of us politicians to achieve reconciliation and

lasting peace.

At the level of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the issue of

resolving the destiny of the kidnapped and missing persons is dealt

with by the Coordination Center of Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohia, and of the Committee of the

Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro for humanitarian issues

and missing persons.

The Coordination Center has supported the continuation of the Committee for humanitarian issues and missing persons at the level of the

new state union and has provided assistance in organizational and functional aspects.

By signing the General Framework Peace Agreement for Bosnia and

Herzegovina in November 1995, armed conflicts in the territory of former

Yugoslavia have stopped. However, the frightening consequences of these

conflicts have remained, as well as numerous grave humanitarian issues that need to be resolved, in order to mitigate such consequences.

 On the list of missing persons that Serbia and Montenegro are searching for in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are 125 persons, most of whom

are soldiers and commanders of the ex Yugoslav Army, victims of events

that took place in May 1992 in Sarajevo and Tuzla, during the withdrawal operations which were carried out in accordance with the achieved

political agreements and with guarantees of the international community. We cannot be satisfied with the degree of cooperation with the

state commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Agreements and memorandums of understanding have been signed

between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia,

at the state level and at the level of the Committee of the Council of
18

Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro for humanitarian issues and missing persons, which specify the obligation that the parties have undertaken until the final resolution of all cases of missing persons on the

lists of both sides.

Serbia and Montenegro are searching for 2700 missing persons of

Serbian nationality, citizens of the Republic of Croatia, including also

victims of the campaigns of the Croatian military and police “Lightning“ and “The Storm“, since the greatest number of their families, as

refugees, presently live in Serbia and Montenegro, and the destiny of

520 persons from the list of FR Yugoslavia is still unknown, among

whom are the pilots of the former Yugoslav Army and persons for whom

the FR Yugoslavia had, and provided to Croatian side, evidence that

they were living in their prisons and under their authority.

A significant step forward in resolving the destiny of the missing

persons is the readiness of all relevant actors to provide information

about the locations of mass graves and the readiness to pass over to the

interested party the bodies, after which the bodies are taken over by the

families. Based on the agreements concerning monitoring it has been

made possible for representatives of the Yugoslav Committee and forensic experts to attend exhumations in Republic of Croatia at locations

that the Yugoslav side is interested in. The Committee of Serbia and

Montenegro has information about 1300 registered graves and about

most of the mass graves in the Republic of Croatia, in which persons of

Serb nationalities are buried. Their exhumation has started only in the

year 2001, at the initiative of the Hague Tribunal.

In the period from 2001 to 2002, 559 persons have been exhumed, in

locations Knin—301, Graèac—154, Korenica—27, Rizvanuša—18,

Slavonski Brod—59 persons. About 170 persons have been identified at

these locations. The identification process is in progress for victims exhumed in the Knin graveyard, and so far 152 persons have been identified. Based on the agreement concerning monitoring, exhumations are

attended by representative of the Committee of Serbia and Montenegro

and Yugoslav forensic experts, in the capacity of observers.

At locations in the Republic of Serbia, on municipal graveyards in

Novi Sad, Sremska Mitrovica, Šabac and Loznica exhumations have

been completed, attended by representatives and forensic experts of the

Bureau of the Republic of Croatia and the Committee for missing persons of the Republic Srpska. A total of 223 bodies have been exhumed,

who arrived to the territory of Serbia from the territories under war

conflict by water (the rivers Danube, Sava and Drina).

The Croatian side has undertaken that in the future period it will

perform exhumation, obduction and will initiate the process of identification for another 500 bodies, who have been found later in mass graves

and in individual graves in the Republic of Croatia.

In April 2001, the Federal Government and the Government of the

Republic of Serbia have established the Coordination Center for Kosovo

and Metohia, which has devoted great care to the issue of kidnapped

and missing persons through the Bureau for Kidnapped and Missing

Persons and the Bureau for Exhumation and Identification.

According to data of the International Committee of the Red Cross

and the UNMIK, since the beginning of 1998, when the first cases of

kidnapped and missing persons were recorded in the AP Kosovo and

Metohia, the total number of registered cases is 5769, of which 4697
19

Albanians and 1072 other nationality. Of the total number of missing

persons, the number of unresolved cases is 3696 persons, of which 2836

Albanians and 860 persons of other nationalities, while the number of

resolved cases is 2073 persons, of which 1861 Albanians and 212 members of other nationalities.

Through its bureaus, the Coordination Center has established a higher

level of cooperation with UNMIK police and administration in the field

of resolving the issue of destiny of kidnapped and missing persons, which

has of course been politically verified in form of a Memorandum of Understanding signed on 11 February 2002, previously adopted by the

Federal government and the Government of the Republic of Serbia, specifically:

1. Memorandum of Understanding on joint verification teams for

hidden prisons;

2. Memorandum of Understanding on the exchange of forensic experts and expert opinions;

3. Memorandum of Understanding on cross-border repatriation of

identified bodily remains.

After the signing of the above Memorandums of Understanding, the activities with UNMIK police have become more intensive and

a possibility was opened up for the attendance by pathologists on behalf

of the Coordination Center in the process of exhumation and obduction

in Kosovo and Metohia, which resulted in finding and identification of

unidentified bodies in mass graves in Kosovo and Metohia and their

transfer to family members.
20

With the view to alleviate sufferings of all, and fully committed to the

highest standards in the field of the protection of human rights, the

Republic of Serbia undertook the following:

1. Transferred ethnic Albanians who were serving their prison sentences in Serbia proper, in the spirit of the European Convention

on the Transfer of Convicts;

2. Disclosed facts on the existence of mass graves in Serbia, exhumed 836 bodies and started the identification procedure;

3. Passed the Law on the Cooperation with the ICTY, and acts in

compliance with the provisions;

4. Arrested political leaders charged with war crimes and handed

then over to the ICTY;

5. Rendered all the necessary documents to the ICTY;

6. Initiated criminal procedure against a number of individuals

charged with war crimes against ethnic Albanians, before Yugoslav judiciary authorities;

7. Started the elaboration of a unique missing persons list for the

territory of Serbia and Montenegro, including Kosovo and

Metohija;

8. Passed the Law on the organization and competence of the state

organs in procedures against war crime perpetrators.

Taking as a point of departure the fact that resolution of the question

of kidnapped and missing persons is of invaluable importance for the

building of mutual trust, and respecting the principle that each and

everyone is entitled to knowing the truth, we would suggest that in the

autumn 2003 the US Congress dedicated one of its hearings to this

topic.
21

MISSING PERSONS IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE

PART II

SEPTEMBER 18, 2003

Note: Hearing proceedings were cancelled

due to the Federal Government’s closure.
22

WITNESS BIOGRAPHIES

NOTE: Hearing Proceedings were cancelled due to Federal Government closure on September 18, 2003.

MR. SHEREMET ADEMI, PRESIDENT,

COORDINATION COUNCIL OF THE FAMILY

ASSOCIATIONS OF KOSOVO

Mr. Ademi has been involved in the issue of missing persons since the

end of the Kosovo war in the late 1990s. He serves as President of the

Coordination Council of the Family Associations of Kosovo and is the

founder and Chair of a Mitrovica-based association of families of missing, the “Kujtesa” (Memory) Foundation. He was elected to head the

Kosovar Associations of Families of the Missing, resulting in his appointment as UNMIK advisor on the missing. In accordance with his

positions, he could very well be the most important coordinator between

families of the missing and governmental structures, both UNMIK and

PISG. Mr. Ademi received his B.A. from the University of Pristina,

Law, in 1984. He was born in 1958 in Mitrovica, Kosovo, where 159

persons are still listed as missing. Mr. Ademi had three missing family

members who have recently been identified.

MS. NESRETE KUMNOVA, CHAIR,

MOTHERS APPEAL ASSOCIATION (THIRRJET E NENAVE)

Ms. Kumnova is a founding member and the current Chair of the Gjakova-based NGO, “Thirrjet e Nenave” (Mothers Appeal), an association

of families of missing. She is the highest profile woman involved in the

issues of the missing, frequently appearing on television as an immediately recognized, effective, emotionally powerful spokesperson for the

cause of the missing. She is also a presidency member of the Kosovar

Association of Families of Missing and a member of the Coordination

Council of the Association of the Families of the Missing. Ms. Kumnova

has been the figurehead of most demonstrations and strikes organized

since 1999 aiming to put pressure on governmental structures to focus

on the fate of missing. She is also a trader/small businessperson in her

native town of Gjakova, where there are still 667 persons missing. Ms.

Kumnova has eight missing family members, including her son.

MR. AGRON LIMANI, PRESIDENT,

ASSOCIATION OF MISSING PERSONS, “26 MARSI 1999”

Mr. Limani is a founding member and the current Chair of “26 Marsi

1999” (March 26, 1999), the Association of Families of the Missing, in

his village, Krusha e Vogel, and a member of the Kosovar Association of

the Families of Missing since its establishment in 2002. He received his

B.A. in electronics from the University of Pristina in 1990 and has

published various articles for Epoka e Re and Zeri newspapers. Mr.

Agron serves as a schoolteacher in his native Prizen. In his adopted

village, Krusha e Vogel, there are still 112 persons missing and approximately seventy percent of the men over the age of sixteen have

been abducted; it is believed that their bodies were burned and then

thrown into the river, leaving little possibility of DNA testing for identification. Mr. Limani has 11 missing family members, including his

father and brother.
23

MR. MEHMETALI PEROLLI, HEAD,

OFFICE OF THE IMPRISONED AND MISSING PEOPLE

Mr. Perolli is the head of the Office for Imprisoned and Missing People,

based in Gjakova. He has been proactive in rallying for support in

highlighting the fate of missing, publishing and archiving, among other

activities, various lists, appeals, and 14 booklets with detailed records

and statistics about crimes committed in Gjakova municipality. Today,

667 are still missing in Gjakova.
24

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, CHAIRMAN,

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

This morning, the Helsinki Commission continues its focus on the

plight of those in southeastern Europe who have relatives and loved

ones missing as a result of the conflicts associated with Yugoslavia’s

disintegration in the 1990s.

Last month, we heard compelling testimony from four people who

lost one or more family members during those conflicts. They happened

to be ethnic Serbs. Today, we hear from four others, who happen to be

ethnic Albanians. I mention their ethnicity simply to repeat the point I

made at the last hearing that their ethnic backgrounds are actually

irrelevant. What is relevant is that family and friends of those who are

missing have a right to know the fate of their loved ones.

Our four witnesses today all come from Kosovo, the scene of harsh

repression which lasted for many years under the regime of Slobodan

Milosevic and culminated in a brutal conflict beginning in 1998 and a

massive ethnic cleansing campaign in 1999. During that time, they

lost not just one but several members of their families. As part of the

personal search for answers, they emerged as representatives of many

other families through their leadership in non-governmental organizations. We have asked each of them to say a few words about their own

family tragedy and then to describe the organizations they represent

and what, if any, progress they have achieved.

I welcome you here this morning and want you to know we join you in

the quest for truth. Through the Helsinki Commission, we have pressed

very strongly over the years to see those responsible for war crimes,

crimes against humanity and genocide to be brought to justice. We

were active in pressing for the release of the Kosovar Albanians who

were unjustly held in Serbian prisons even after Milosevic was ousted.

We will be similarly engaged in encouraging our government, other

governments and international organizations to make the resolution of

missing persons cases a priority. In fact, the issue was raised already

in hearings the Commission had with the Dutch Foreign Minister currently chairing the OSCE, and with senior State Department officials.
25

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

HON. BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, CO-CHAIRMAN,

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

The concern expressed by Chairman Smith and other members of

this Commission about the plight of the families of missing persons in

Southeastern Europe is one which I share completely.

Ultimately, the international community’s success in the Balkans

will be determined not by how much money is pumped into the region,

how many troops are sent or which local leaders are supported. Whether

or not we really help the people who actually live in the region to recover

from past conflict, live in freedom, and find opportunity for economic

advancement will determine success.

That is one reason I have been so supportive of the OSCE-run school

for the Kosovo Police Service, and the emphasis in Kosovo on the police

serving the public rather than doing the dirty work of those holding

political power, as was the case in the past.

Resolving missing persons cases accomplishes the same end. It helps

close an ugly chapter in the history of the region so that the people and

governments alike can all begin looking to the better future.

It is also simply the right thing to do. Foreign policy cannot be based

solely on the personal emotions of those who make it, but it also cannot

be void of sympathy and caring for those from other countries who have

been the victimized. Indeed, one of the assets of democracy in the United

States is that the values and compassion of the American people are

reflected in U.S. foreign policy through the promotion of human rights.

It is for that reason that, today, elected representatives of the American

people will listen to the compelling stories of people who have faced unimaginable tragedy and loss.

In closing, I again express my hope that, through this hearing and

other efforts, the Commission will encourage the State Department and

the international community to make the resolution of missing persons

cases, regardless of ethnicity, a priority task.
26

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, RANKING MEMBER,

COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE

I join the Chairman in welcoming our witnesses and the audience to

today’s hearing of the Helsinki Commission, which will focus on the

issue of missing persons in Southeast Europe.

As a member of the Commission, I have carefully followed developments in this region of Europe. Most of my efforts have focused on encouraging cooperation with international efforts to prosecute war

crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide which took place in parts

of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Justice, however, is not simply

an end in itself; the trials held in The Hague and now domestically

bring some closure to those surviving victims of brutal ethnic cleansing

campaigns. Justice allows victims and their families to move on, rebuild and, we hope, help keep a tragic period of history from repeating

itself.

Locating and identifying missing persons can accomplish this same

end. For those who have relatives that disappeared during conflict, the

desire to know what happened to their missing loved ones must be overwhelming. The unknown often perpetuates and exacerbates the suffering they have already experienced during the conflict. Like justice,

knowing the fate of missing loved ones can help bring closure to surviving friends and family.

The international community must make the effort to resolve missing persons cases a priority. The International Commission for Missing

Persons and other organizations leading the search and providing counseling to families deserve strong support. The non-governmental organizations composed of surviving family members—like those represented

by our witnesses today—also deserve our support. By working together,

these families can help each other cope with tragedy and rebuild a society torn by conflicts in which civilian populations were primarily and

intentionally targeted.

I look forward to hearing the testimony of our panel of witnesses this

morning, and to learn what more the Helsinki Commission can do to

ensure that answers are found to the questions they and the families

they represent have regarding missing relatives.
27

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

SHEREMET ADEMI, CHAIRMAN,

MITROVICA-BASED NGO “MEMORY” AND

KOSOVAR ASSOCIATION OF FAMILIES OF THE MISSING, AND

ADVISOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS MISSION IN KOSOVO

[UNMIK] ON ISSUES RELATING TO MISSING PERSONS

Ladies and gentlemen, respected and honorable participants:

On my behalf, and that of the people of Kosovo, allow me first to

express the most sincere condolences for the victims of September 11.

We share the pain of their family members and all American people.

As you already know, as a consequence of the war in Kosovo (1998-

1999) about 11,000 civilians were murdered and massacred; thousands

of people were injured; 5,000 others were either abducted or disappeared;

about one million Kosovars were evicted from their homes; 200,000 housing units were destroyed, etc. The intervention of the international community led by the U.S.A. put an end to the genocide and brought longawaited liberty to the people of Kosovo.

Dear participants, even though more than four years have passed

since it ended, the wounds of the war are not yet healed. To this day

Kosovo is faced with the absence of 43,2331 civilians detained and abducted in an organized manner by the Serbian military, police and paramilitary forces during the war period. In both Kosovo and Serbia hundreds of mass graves have been discovered with the bodies of killed and

massacred Albanian civilians by Serbian forces and dozens of others

that are waiting to be exhumed.

In order to hide their traces of crime, Serbian forces transferred the

killed and massacred persons to different regions of Serbia; after the

discovery of the mass graves, these bodies are being returned to their

families in Kosovo.

Dear participants, we feel that the issue of the abducted and missing

persons continues to be a wound that gets more aggravated with each

passing day and by not resolving it we are faced with psychological,

emotional and social violence not only against their families, but against

all Kosovo and its democratic processes.

Unfortunately, the continued requests of the family members directed

towards the international community to apply pressure on Belgrade

officials and clarify the fate of this category have not brought results,

just like the unwillingness of Serb officials to resolve this matter as

stipulated in international agreements.

Dear participants, this matter not only a humanitarian problem; it is

also a political and legal problem for the resolution of which we have to

engage the international community and especially the government of

the U.S.A. Thousands of families in Kosovo are looking forward to learning about their loved ones; thousands of children wait every moment to

find out the fate of their parents.

Dear participants, we have a common obligation to tell the truth to

our children no matter what that is and how painful it could be. The

continuing strikes, protests, requests and appeals of family members to

learn about the fate of their loved ones have until now fallen on deaf

ears in the international community though it is bound by international agreements to resolve these matters.

1

 According to the Office for Missing Persons/UNMIK
28

Respected participants, knowing your humanity and the support that

you have given to my people in the most difficult days of its history, I

make an appeal to use all your authority and that of your institutions

to elucidate the fate of the abducted and missing Kosovars and to resolve once and for all this important matter, to which the liberty and

future of Kosovars and their democratic processes are held hostage.

I am aware that your support, and that of the American people in

general, just like in the past, will serve the well-being and prosperity of

humanity, and in this case of the Kosovars, too.

Dear participants, finally by expressing my special considerations for

you and for the American people, please allow me to remind you that

thousands of families are waiting to find out about the fate of their loved

ones.

Thank you.

THE SITUATION OF THE FAMILIES OF WAR VICTIMS

IN MITROVICA MUNICIPALITY

Hundreds of families did not enjoy the happiness of peace in Mitrovica.

Because of the fact that they lost their beloved or they do not have any

information about the fate of their beloved. More than 200 women are

widowed. More than 600 children have lost their parents. There is a

great lost in the intellectual and working classes.

The emotion and social position of these families is very hard.

• The families that have war hostages live with anxiety and hope.

Their expenses are very high too.

• Families with missing persons live under someone.

• Lot of families did not find the dead bodies of their loved ones to

rebury them.

• Families that have buried their loved ones. They need material

and social support.

• Foundation Kujtimi is trying to help in this mission. We are not

supporting them with money. We offer them only service. We are

addressing all people who are interested in supporting them in

any way

• We will wait for you in your sacred mission.

Foundation Kujtimi was founded immediately after the war in Kosova.

This was an imperative period. This foundation was registered by

UNMIK on 03.01.2000 under registry number 5200012-2.

It has these activities:

• Offer judicial support to the families of war victims.

• Help in identification of the dead bodies and war graves.

• Gather information for disappeared persons antemortem and postmortem.

• Investigate the movement of dead bodies and missing persons.

• Help families to identify and bury the bodies of their loved ones.

• Maintain graves and memorial houses.

• Help families with psychological programs.

• Collect data for the truth and war consequences [publishing events

and evidence].

• Arrange for peace to be achieved through justice.
29

As well as activities that favor peace over war.

“Kujtimi” Foundation cooperates with:

• UNMIK Office for Missing Persons and Forensic Medicine

• OSCE, Human Rights Department

• Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms

• International Red Cross

• UNMIK Police for Missing Persons

• Other government and non-government associations

Foundation Kujtimi is corporate.

With OMPF, OSCE

International Red Cross

UNMIK Police for Missing Persons

Other NGOs and GOs

May the loyal angels of freedom live eternally!

Our dedication to their families is a duty.

Through this we preserve the values, past present and future, of our

nation and the democratic world that defended the most treasured human values.

The memory of devoted angels to be forever.

Our concerning to their families obligation.

This is the way to keep the values of past, present and future of the

nation, democratic world who represent in protection of the human been.

Sheremet Ademi

Mitrovica, 9/09/2003
30

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

NESRETE KUMNOVA, PRESIDENT,

GJAKOVA-BASED NGO “MOTHERS APPEAL”

Dear participants, my name is Nesrete Kumnava and I am the Chairwoman of the non-governmental organization “Thirrjet e Nenave” (Calls

of Mothers), an organization that gathers the families of abducted persons from the region of Gjakova. Gjakova now counts 394 persons abducted by the military, police and paramilitary Serb forces during the

war period.

My family has eight missing members: my son, Albion (age 21); my

sons-in-law Gezim Deva (age 29), and Halim Qerkezi (age 53); my nephews, Artan (age 25), Armend (age 24), Ardian (age 17), Edmond (age 13)

and Artan Efendija (age 22). All of them were detained by Serb police on

March 27 and 31, 1999 in their homes. Since that day, we do not know

anything about their fate.

Most of the family members of the persons abducted in the region of

Gjakova know the abductors of their loved ones (just to illustrate I can

mention the abduction of 11 members of the Cerkezi family; other family members have recognized the Serb, Dragan Racic from Gjakova,

among the kidnappers, who was wearing a police uniform.

ACTIVITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION

We, the family members of the abducted persons, immediately after

the war, established the Parental Council in order to investigate the

fate of our loved ones. In this direction, we organized the collection of

data for all the abducted persons and organized protests, strikes and

wrote petitions to raise awareness of the problem I mentioned.

The purpose of the organization is to secure information about abducted persons and to cooperate with local and international institutions in order to elucidate their fate.

With the intention of undertaking steps towards shedding light on

the fate of our loved ones we have sent requests and petitions to international organizations including the U.N. Security Council, the European

Parliament, to the governments of different countries, the International

Commission for Missing Persons, the International Committee of the

Red Cross and to human rights organizations but unfortunately until

now we have not been able to learn anything about them.

The discovery and exhumation of some mass graves in Serbia brought

the unfortunate news to some of the families from Gjakova whose loved

ones were abducted along with the 378 Albanian civilians on April 27,

1999 in Meja of Gjakova.

We shall never cease searching for our loved ones and for this we

request the help of all those who have a say in resolving such a matters.

Along with its activities in connection with investigating the fate of

abducted persons, our organization also supports their families by notifying all the institutions about their requests and daily problems.

The families of the abducted persons love and deserve FREEDOM;

they love their CHILDREN and they love LIFE just as everybody else.

We ask again: WHERE ARE OUR LOVED ONES?

Dear participants, the information and other data on the abducted

persons from the region of Gjakova can be found in brochures that our

organization has prepared and that will be at your disposal.
31

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

AGRON LIMANI, PRESIDENT,

“26 MARSI 1999” ASSOCIATION BASED IN KRUSHA E VOGEL

I was born on 12/15/1966 in Krusha e Vogel (Prizren) where I still

reside. I graduated from the Faculty of Electronics. At present, I teach

electronics in the High School “Gjon Buzuku” in Prizren. I am married

and have two children. During the liberation war in Kosovo, I was a

member of the KLA. The Serbs abducted (kidnapped) my father (age

56), my brother (age 23), my uncle (age 71) and my uncle’s son (age 43,

who is physically and mentally disabled) on 26 March 1999.

Our association keeps close contacts with the family members of abducted persons. After every meeting we have had with different delegations, after every bit of information at our disposal, before any initiative

we intended to undertake, we have met with the family members of

those abducted persons in order to inform and consult with them.

The main problem of this village has been and still is the investigation into the fate of the men who were abducted by Serb forces on March

25 and 26 of the year 1999. For this reason, when the war ended (in

June 1999) we started our activity on this matter and established the

association named the Association for the Research of the Abducted

Persons “26 March 1999”.

The association has 150 members and a board of five members who

are:

1. Agron Limani—Chairman

2. Sylejman Ramadan—Vice Chair

3. Gani Zylfiu—Secretary

4. Blerim Shehu—Member

5. Dashamir Asllani—Member

The association is registered with the appropriate organs of UNMIK.

On March 25 and 26, one of the biggest massacres in the contemporary history of Kosovo was committed as a result of the Serb aggression

on the Albanian civilians of the village of Krusha e Vogel. In this massacre, 112 Albanians from ages 13 to 77, were abducted (missing). After

the people returned from Albania, land mines left behind in the village

killed a 12 year old child, so the total number killed here is 113.

Expressed as a percentage, in Krusha e Vogel about 70 percent of the

males are missing from children age 13 and up. So, it is the largest

massacre which occurred in Kosovo. As a result of this massacre there

are 82 widows and 145 orphans. Ten families remain without any male

in the house, without the possibility to reproduce in the future. Families have lost from one to nine members each.

The matter of the abducted persons is a big spiritual and mental

burden, an anxiety, an unbearable wait first of all for their family members. A region that has hundreds and thousands of family members in

this psychological situation cannot have sustainable peace and tranquility.

With the exception of the Serb minority, our relations with other

ethnic groups (Roma, Bosnians, Turks, Ashkalis, etc.) are normal. The

Serb minority has not denounced a single criminal from its own people;

on the contrary it expresses an extraordinary consideration for the perpetrators. Because their majority participated in crimes against Albanians and none of them has yet been punished by the court in The
32

Hague or by the international court in Kosovo (because locals are not

allowed to adjudicate Serb criminals); such people in Kosovo are viewed

(certainly by our association and our village as well) as privileged criminals and the relations between the victims and the criminals cannot be

other than abnormal.

In the framework of our activities to elucidate the fate of abducted

persons, in our meetings with local and international authorities we

have offered information about the perpetrators of the crimes in our

village, hoping that their arrest would facilitate the resolution of this

matter. In this context we have had some meetings with representatives of the American Office in Prishtina including the head of this

office Mr. Reno Harnish, the Parliamentarian and Governmental Commission of Kosovo for Abducted and Missing Persons, the Kenova Police

Unit for Missing Persons, the UNMIK Police Unit for Missing Persons,

the Commission of Kosovo Districts Association for Missing Persons,

the International Red Cross, the Hague Tribunal, the International

Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), etc. We have filed a lawsuit

against the Serbs involved in this massacre with the Public Prosecutor’s

Office in Prishtina and Prizren.

Our success in this matter so far has been relatively small because

the truth about our children can be found in the files of the Ministry of

Internal Affairs of Serbia and can be found out by the apprehension of

Serb criminals. Both the files and the criminals cannot be found on

some other planet but in Serbia. We do not have the power to intervene

and the ones who have the power do not want to use it, which is why

our success is relative.

• Takes care of the regulations of the cemetery and memorial houses;

• Assists the families with psychological social programs;

• Collects data about the truth and war consequences (by publishing events and testimony);

• Is committed to achieving peace through justice;

• And other activities that favor peace overt war.

INFORMATION REGARDING THE MASSACRE

IN KRUSHA E VOGEL

PART ONE

The village of Krusha e Vogel is part of Prizren municipality and it is

located along the third kilometer of the Prizren-Gjakova highway. Its

residents make their living mainly from farming. About 970 Albanians

60 Serbs and 15 Romas resided in the village.

From the time Kosovo lost its autonomy in March 1989, the Albanian

residents of our village became subject to different forms of systematic

violence (just as all the Albanian population in Kosovo.)

First, the Albanian workers lost their jobs. About 95 percent of the

employed in our village were dismissed by force. They were replaced by

Serbian workers from Krusha e Vogel and other areas (because there

was not a sufficient number of Serbs from Krusha e Vogel that could fill

in all the vacant positions of dismissed Albanian workers).

Within a very short period of time all Serbian families were armed

with different types of weapons. In the meantime, all adult Serbs began

to conduct military training.
33

Many Albanian homes were searched under the pretext of searching

for weapons. Many young people were abused physically and many houses

were demolished, but no weapons were found. Paying money to Serbs

was a way to temporarily ward off violence. Because of the Serbian repression, some entire families were compelled to flee to Western countries.

There was not a single day that went by without the Serbs firing

their weapons. They used this action as a form of intimidation in order

to make our lives insecure and unbearable. It was particularly terrible

when they fired weapons for hours late into the night, especially terrorizing women and little children.

In 1990, in the center of the village, exactly at the home of Dimitrije

Nikolic, a police checkpoint was set up and the police who manned it

abused physically, insulted, and threatened all Albanians who passed

through it. Provoking Albanian women in various degrading ways became routine for the police.

In February 1999, in the face of a situation of escalating violence, Albanian parents asked Serbian parents to put an end to the violence their

sons exerted (against Albanian civilians). Instead of condescending, they

(the Serbian parents) answered, “Our sons know what they are doing.”

PART TWO

The day after the NATO strikes of 03/24/1999, at about 4:00 a.m., the

Serbian military, paramilitary and police forces were positioned right

next to our village, supported by combat equipment, such as tanks,

antiaircraft (Praga), armored vehicles, etc. Soon after, the Serbs of our

village gave a signal to those forces that came mainly from Prizren,

and they started to march on the village, torching the first houses. In

the face of such a situation, the Albanian villagers fled from their homes

to the surrounding area in the hope of returning once the barbarous

Serbs were done with pillaging the village. Nine people who did not

leave their homes on 03/25/1999, (Sejdi Emrullahu, Isni Rashkaj, Nazmi

Rashkaj, Demir Rashkaj, Sali Shehu, Reshat Shehu, Dervish Shehu,

Raif Shehu and Nexhat Shehu), were taken away that day and their

fate remains unknown. As there were many babies, just a few days and

weeks old, pregnant women, small children and old people among the

escapees, and as it was cold, especially in the evening, the villagers

decided to spend the night at the home of Sejdi Batusha.

The next day, on 03/26/1999, at noon, the Serbs from our village, all

of whom were armed, and the additional forces (arriving from Prizren)

surrounded the Albanian civilians who were staying at Sejdi Batusha’s

house. Women and children, under the age of 12, were ordered to depart

for Albania (using the road through the village of Bregdri) while the

others were ordered to stay there.

Mothers, sisters and wives begged the local Serbs (yesterday’s neighbors) to release the others, but it was useless because they were even

more aggressive than the ones that had come to help them. Many children (when they were being separated) tried to go with their mothers,

but they were snatched from them by force. Dorde Cvetkovic, a Serb

from our village was the most active in this process.

After the women and young children headed towards the village of

Bregdri, the male adults, from 13 years of age and up, were ordered to go

to the home of Qazim Batusha. Q.B’s house is about 150 meters away

from S.B.’s house where they had stayed previously. On their way there,

they were watched mainly by the local Serbs, so they could not escape.
34

Upon entering Qazim Batusha’s house the Serbs seized their money

and identification cards. There were 109 people that were brought into

that house. It was a one-story house with two rooms and a hallway.

The Serbs opened fire on them with automatic weapons and then set the

house ablaze. There were people that were not hit by the bullets who

(after pretending to be dead) got up and tried to escape from the crime

scene. As they were trying to escape, some managed to get out of the

house but they were gunned down; the number of those that finally survived is six.

The people who survived the massacre:

1. Lutfi Ramadani (witness in the Hague Tribunal)

2. Agim Asllani

3. Mehmet Krasniqi (witness in the Hague Tribunal)

4. Bajram Zylfiu

5. Qamil Shehu

6. Petrit Rashkaj

The witnesses who escaped from this massacre say that while they

were escaping the house they left many injured persons who could not

leave due to their wounds and they do not know what happened to them.

The local Serbs, who were considerably assisted by the Roma of this

village, led the whole massacre. During two days there were 112 Albanian civilians who were abducted (missing).

The house where the crime was committed was destroyed on 03/26/1999

and on its site there are two large craters, to create the impression that

this massacre is a result of NATO air strikes.
35
36
37
38

In this massacre, there were 112 Albanians killed (missing), age 13

to 77. After the people returned from Albania, land mines left behind in

the village killed a 12 year old child, so the total number killed here is

113.

Expressed in percentages in Krusha e Vogel about 70 percent of the males

aged 13 and older are missing. So, it is the largest massacre that occurred in Kosovo. As a result of this massacre there are 82 widows and 145

orphans. Ten families remain without any male in the house, without the

possibility to reproduce in the future. Families have lost from one to nine

members each. Of 145 residences, only eight were saved from burning.

LIST OF SERBS FROM THE VILLAGE OF KRUSHA E VOGEL WHO

PARTICIPATED IN THE MASSACRE OF THIS VILLAGE
39
40

Women and small children who were separated by their loved ones

(brothers, children, spouses, etc.) ordered by the Serbs, were forced to

leave their village; and on their way to Albania they first stopped in the

village of Bregdri and stayed there for three days. This village overlooks

our village from a distance of approximately two kilometers. People from

this village say (as they observed with binoculars) that the next day on

03/27/1999, a group of 30 to 40 civilians were seen leaving the village of

Krusha e Vogel. They were sent towards Prizren.
41
42
43

DECLARATIONS OF THE WITNESSES*

Serbian police, after having ordered the separation of males from the

females, and after having ordered the females to depart for Albania,

took all our money and identification documents. Afterwards they ordered us to leave the place where they had separated us and go to the

house of Qazim Batusha. On our way to Qazim Batusha’s house, we

were guarded on both sides so as not to escape by well-armed Serbs,

some in uniform and some in civilian clothing, mostly from our village.

Among them I could recognize Nikolic Sava (4), Tasic Sveta (1), Nikolic

Zvezdan (9), Cvetkovic Borislav (32), Dordevic Zlatko (5), Nikolic

Momcila (2), Cvetkovic Dorde (6), Nikolic Dimitria (3), Petkovic Ranko

(10), Nikolic Ranko (7) and others from our village and other places who

had come to their assistance. After they herded us into that house (we

were 109 persons), they opened fire on us through the windows and the

door of that house. Many of the wounded were later executed by the

Serbs with pistols who came into the rooms where they committed the

massacre. Later, they threw a special substance on our bodies that

ignited. After seeing the situation, I decided to get up (because I was

lying pretending to be dead) and attempted to escape from the house

where those killed started to be incinerated. When I came near one of

the windows trying to escape from the house where the massacre occurred, I saw that a bit further away (about 50 meters) many Serbs

from the aforementioned list were talking and laughing with one another. Taking advantage of their carelessness, I ran out of the house.

Although they yelled for me to return when they saw me escape, and

they shot at me trying to kill me, I managed to escape to the mountains

and survived.—Declaration by Lutfi Ramadani, one of the six

survivors of this massacre and a witness at the Hague Tribunal.

The Serbian police shot at us but the bullets missed me. I pretended

to be dead. Bullets missed Shefqet Shehu also, who got up and when he

saw Nikolic Momcil (2) at the window asked him, “Why are you doing

this my neighbor, we have done nothing to you?” Nikolic Momcil (2)
44

without replying shot him with an automatic weapon and killed Shefqet

Shehu.—Declaration by Mehmet Krasniqi, one of the six survivors of this massacre and a witness at the Hague Tribunal.

After I ran away from the house where the massacre occurred and

hid in a house nearby, about noon time on 03/26/1999, near the house

where human bodies were being incinerated, Cvetkovic Borislav (32)

and Petkovic Slavko (43) Arrived. They started to pick up dry corn

stalks which were nearby and throw them on the burning human bodies.—Declaration by Mehmet Krasniqi, one of the six survivors

of this massacre.

Blagoje Nikolic (51), Nikolic Dushko (49) and a uniformed policeman

who was not from our village, came to the yard of the house of Bali

Avdyli where I was hiding and which was near the house where the

massacre occurred. All four of them were heavily armed. They were

observing the area near the house where the bodies were being incinerated. I could clearly overhear their conversation. They said that if they

saw any survivors at the crime scene, they would kill them all without

warning.—Declaration by Mehmet Krasniqi, one of the six survivors of this massacre.

The next day on 03/27/1999 I was still hiding in the mountain overlooking our village. At night I wanted to run further away, but my

movements were detected from the village. After they saw me they began to pursue me. In this predicament, I ran up a distance, but because

of my burns I could not run further, so I hid in a hole carved by a brook

and covered by some heath (a subshrub that grows in the mountains).

A few meters from my hiding place, I saw Cvetkovic Dorde (6), Agim

Gashi (54) and Lulezim Gashi (55) chasing me. All three were armed

with automatic weapons. After they went further away looking for me,

I left my hiding place and headed in the direction of Krusha e Madhe.

Though at a considerable distance from them, they spotted me and fired

three times with their weapons, but fortunately they did not hit me.

Then I went to the village of Nagavc.—Declaration by Mehmet

Krasniqi, one of the six survivors of this massacre.

Fifteen minutes after we survived the massacre, while still on the

run, I (Bajram Zylfiu) together with Lutfi Ramadani and Agim Asllani,

found ourselves on a secondary road connecting our village with the

village of Krusha e Madhe. On the other side, pursuing us to kill us

were Nikolic Sava (4), Tasic Sveta (1), Nikolic Zvezdan (9), Cvetkovic

Borislav (32), and Dordevic Zlatko (5). They had been chasing us in a

white “Golf” and were positioned along the main road (highway) that

connects our village with Krusha e Madhe. So they were positioned

across from us about 100 meters away. After they saw us escaping,

they started to shoot their weapons continuously in our direction (about

200 meters away), until we reached the mountain. —Declaration by

Bajram Zylfiu, one of the six survivors of this massacre.

After we survived the massacre, together with Lutfi Ramadani, Gani

Zylfiu and Safet Berisha, we stayed in the mountains of our village for

a while and later we went to the village of Bregdri. This village is lo-
45

cated across from ours at a distance of one kilometer. After we arrived

in this village, we found shelter in the old house of Shefki Collaku. We

used that house only at night to prepare food and to sleep and during

the day for security reasons we would leave and go to the mountain

near the house. On 04/23/1999 at around 4:30 a.m., we had already left

the house and were about 70 meters away from it. Half an hour after we

left, the house was attacked with automatic weapons by Nikolic Sava

(4), Tasic Sveta (1), Nikolic Zvezdan (9), Cvetkovic Borislav (32), and

Dordevic Zlatko (5).—Declaration by Bajram Zylfiu, one of the

six survivors of this massacre.

When they separated the women from the men, I was separated from

my husband, Ahmet. Then, they ordered us to depart for Albania. While

we were walking, near the gate of Rasim Batusha, Cvetkovic Dorde (6)

ordered us to stop again. After he saw that my other two sons, Lirim

and Burim, were with me, he ordered them to leave me and go with the

group that was separated from us before. Although I cried and begged

them not to take my sons, because they had already taken away my

husband, Cvetkovic Dorde shoved the muzzle of his automatic weapon

to my chest and threatened me saying, “If you speak one more time, I

will kill you instantly.” My children, Liridon and Burim, were sent by

force to the group who were separated from us before and since that

day, 03/26/1999, I have not heard anything about their fate or that of

my husband.—Declaration by Vezire Barusha from Krusha e

Vogel.

A few minutes before, during the separation they took my two sons

(Avdi, Islam) and my brother-in-law (Asllan). Afterwards they ordered

us to get away from those they had separated from our group and go to

Albania. I was walking assisted by my two nephews (Avdiu’s sons) Visar

and Enver who were holding my arms. They were helping me walk,

because I was disabled after having broken my leg on the ice. When we

arrived at the gate of Rasim Batusha, Cvetkovic Dorde (6) and Cvetkovic

Borislav (32) ordered Visar and Enver to leave me and to go to the others whom they had separated from us before. I begged Dorde (6) and

Borislav (32) to allow them to go with me because they were very young

and I could not walk without help but they did not listen to that and

answered that, “You could walk, and that their place is not with you,

but with the ones up there,” (meaning the ones that they had separated

before).—Declaration by Letafete Batusha from Krusha e Vogel.

Negjmije Batusha, Gjylije Batusha and Burbuqe Batusha give

the same declaration also.

When we were crossing the Kosovo-Albania border on 03/30/1999, at

the village of Vermica, three Serbs arrived from the village of Krusha e

Vogel: Tasic Sveta (1), Nikolic Momcilo (2) and Nikolic Sava (4) and

asked the Serb Border Patrol if the people of Krusha e Vogel had crossed

the border. After they got an affirmative answer from the border patrol

they got extremely angry at them because they had let some people who

survived the massacre (the six massacre survivors) go and cross the

border.—Declaration by Xhek Prekpalaj and Tom Prekpalaj from

the village of Bregdri.
46

We were at the house of Sejdi Batusha with all other inhabitants of

the village. My husband, Hysen Ramadani, (age 77), had remained in

our home. When he was coming to join us, he was shot three times by

persons who were in the house of Muharrem Batusha. He died from the

wounds. His murder caused us all who were in the house of Sejdi Batusha

to panic. The men near me: Hysen Zylfiu, Sejdi Batusha, Nuredin Shehu

and others, after looking in the direction where the gunfire originated,

(the house of Muharrem Batusha), said that it was likely that the one

who killed Hysen Ramadani was Nikolic Dimitria (3), because he was

the one they saw at the window from which the shots originated.—

Declaration by Kade Ramadani from Krusha e Vogel.

On 04/04/1999, Serb police gave an ultimatum to the inhabitants of

the village of Xerxa to leave and to go to Albania. On our way, when we

were passing by the cemetery of the village of Krusha e Vogel, I saw 20

to 30 new graves. That day we were ordered to return after getting

halfway. The next day on 04/05/1999, they ordered us again to go to

Albania. While we were passing near the graves, I saw a number of

people digging the graves open and loading the exhumed corpses onto a

truck.—Declaration by Dritan Limani, resident of the village

of Krusha e Vogel, sheltered in the village of Xerxa.

After they fired their guns at us, the Serbs threw a substance in the

room where we were which ignited. I was not wounded by the gunfire,

but I was lying down as if I were dead. Assessing this situation, I thought

that I would rather be killed by gunfire rather than by fire. When I

went near the window trying to get out, a bit further away I saw Petkovic

Ranko (8), Cvetkovic Dorde (6), and Nikolic Sava (4) who were talking

to one another. I went out immediately and started to run quickly.

Immersed in their conversation, they spotted me running rather late.

When they noticed me escape, they shouted at me to halt, but I only ran

faster. Then when they realized that I was not going to stop they fired

at me, but fortunately they missed me. I ran towards the mountain and

through the mountains I arrived in the village of Nagavc.—Declaration by Petrit Rashkaj, one of the six survivors of this massacre.

When they separated us from our sons and husbands, Muradije

Ramadani fainted. Petkovic Ranko (8) was going at the place where the

separated group was. When he walked near, we begged him to release

our loved ones as he was going there. “Do not panic, because we will

only keep them for five minutes to question them,” Petkovic Ranko (8)

answered.—Declaration by Kimete Limani from Krusha e Vogel.

While we were leaving the village, as ordered by the Serbs of our

village and the others who had come to help them kill Albanian civilians, at the gate of Dushan we met Nikolic Rada (18) and his wife

Kosara. Rada was wearing a uniform and was holding an automatic

weapon in his hands while his wife was carrying a bag with juice and

other food items that she had looted from the store of Nebi Limani after

breaking in. Because Nikolic Rada (18) was my next-door neighbor (his

house and my house were 10 meters apart), I asked him, “Why are you

doing this to us? Why did you take our men?” (They had taken my

husband and son). I begged him to release them. Instead of understand-
47

ing my begging, he answered: “Since you asked for NATO, let them

come and save you. Do you see now what the NATO that you asked for

brought you?”—Declaration by Zylfie Batusha from Krusha e

Vogel.

On 03/26/1999, while we were staying with the other inhabitants of

the village in the house of Sejdi Batusha, I remembered that my cows

were locked in the barn. My sister-in-law, Fiqirie, and I started to walk

to the house to release the cows. When we were nearby, we saw that

near our house (in our neighbor’s yard, Dordevic Mladen) there was a

military tank in position. We were watching, but we did not dare to go

inside the house. In the meantime, while we were watching, a tractor

came out of my house driven by Petkovic Predrag (31). He was driving

my family’s tractor and he had loaded on the trailer (looted) everything

he had found in my house such as the refrigerator, television set, electric stove, tables, chairs, etc. When we told him that what he was doing

was shameful, he answered, “This is nothing compared to what will

happen to you later.” After we left the house we saw my home started to

burn.—Declaration by Nagije Shehu from Krusha e Vogel.

After we saw that our house was first looted and then torched, we

went to the inhabitants of the village who were in the house of Sejdi

Batusha. After an hour the Serbs separated us from the men. They took

my husband, Ismet. After we started to march following the orders of

the Serbs (who were mainly from our village but from other villages as

well), at a distance of a few meters we were stopped again by Dordevic

Zlatko (5). He started to select the children. Many children were separated from their mothers and sent to the previously separated group.

While separating the children, Dordevic Zlatko (5) told me and Zepa

Shehu to give him our children. We begged him not to take our children, but instead he threatened saying, “That if you don’t keep on walking, I will kill you, too.” He took my son, Mentor, and took Zepa’s son,

Ajvaz. After they took our sons, we knocked on many Serbian doors

hoping that they would help up but without success. I also went to

Spirra’s house, telling him that his son, Dordevic Zlatko (5), had taken

my child, Mentor, but he did not care and together with his wife told

me,” “Leave, because you could have the same fate.” I hoped that the

father of the policeman who took my son, Spirra, would go to his son,

Dordevic Zlatko (5), and would release my son, because Spirra and my

husband, Ismet, were shepherds together for many years, but instead

of helping me he sided with the criminal act of his son. Since that day I

don’t know anything about the fate of my husband, Ismet, and my son,

Mentor.—Declaration by Nagije Shehu from Krusha e Vogel.

After we left the house and were about 300 meters away, my wife told

me that she had forgotten our six-week-old baby’s bottle. I returned to

the house to get it. When I was a few meters away from the house, from

a hidden position, I saw that Petkovic Golub (35) and his brother, Petkovic

Dejan (36), had positioned a machine gun at the window of their house

and had pointed it towards my house. I did not know what to do. Because of the baby, I decided to go inside the house. Though I tried to

sneak in, those two saw me and fired at me. I was lucky enough not to

be shot. So I went back, because it was too dangerous to get inside my

house.—Declaration by Agron Limani from Krusha e Vogel.
48

When he saw that the Serbian policemen led by Tasic Sveta (1) seized

his five cousins (Salih, Reshat, Dervish, Raif and Nexhat) and executed

them, Sinan Shehu decided to leave his house and go to his work place

(the wine factory). When he arrived at the factory, he was not allowed

to work, but instead Nikolic Krsta (48) and Petkovic Predrag (31), both

armed, put him into a Lada Samara (property of Krsta) and drove him

near the house where the people of the village were. So he joined the

group for whom the biggest massacre in Kosovo lay in store the following day.—Declaration by Xhafer Muaharremi from Krusha e

Vogel.

On 03/27/1999, around 3:00 p.m. while we were staying at the village

of Bregdri, along the “Drini i Bardhe” river arrived an orange Mercedes

Benz 508 truck, with a covered trailer from which three people got out:

Tasic Srecko (25) and his two sons, Tasic Sveta (1) and Tasic Darko

(26). These three people started to push the truck from the back with

the intention of sinking it into the river (water). They did not succeed

since only its front part went under water. Then Tasic Sveta (1) drove a

tractor that was nearby and tried to push the truck as deep as he could.

Since they were not successful even this time, they threw a substance

into the truck that seemed like powder and set the truck on fire. When

the covering of the trailer started to burn and expose its backside, we

saw with the help of binoculars (at a distance of about 100 meters) that

the truck was full of dead bodies. After they did this, they were picked

up by a van and went to the village (Krusha e Vogel). The truck with

the corpses continued to burn from 3:00 p.m. until the next morning. —

Declaration by Xhafer Muaharremi from Krusha e Vogel.

Sylejman Collaku from the village of Bregdri also gave the same declaration about this case. After he described the event in the same manner as Xhafer Muharremi (regarding the burning of the truck with

corpses), he added, “While I was watching what was happening, the

aforementioned people detected me watching from a corner of my house.

After they detected me they fired twice in my direction. One bullet came

through the window of one of my rooms and embedded in the internal

wall of that room whereas the other went between my house and the

one of my uncle’s. Then I left immediately. I took that bullet after the

war and gave it to the investigators of the Hague Tribunal.”

“Because I worked at a hospital during the war, the Serb police ordered me to do the autopsy of 25 men. They were from 18 to 45 years

old. The Prosecutor of the District of Prizren, Jugosllav Skenderi, was

present there and he kept the complete autopsy report log. From the

conversation between Serb police and the Prosecutor, Jugosllav

Skenderi, (a Bosnian who left after the war in Serbia), I understood

that the ones killed were from Krusha e Vogel.”—Declaration Dr.

Hidajet Lutfiu, a surgeon at the hospital of Prizren.

On 03/27/1999 around 10:00 a.m., the person from Krusha e Vogel

who worked at the municipal water utility, Nikolic Jovan (56) whom I

knew very well, was in the same group with 12 to15 persons on a

“Zastava” small truck and got inside my “Flaka” warehouse, located

near the high school in Prizren. When Nikolic Jovan (56) saw me at the

warehouse the first words out of his mouth were, “Haven’t you left for
49

Albania, yet?” Then one of his friends told him to get rid of me, but

Jovan said, “No, no, because he is my friend.” This group as well as he

had bandanas round their heads; many of them had blood on their faces

and clothes. At a moment Nikolic Jovan (56) told me that, “We have

killed and made soap out of all the Albanians of Krusha e Vogel. Among

them we have also killed your brother-in-law Lutfi Ramadani.” It would

be good if Nikolic Jovan (56) told about what happened in Krusha e

Vogel as a witness.—Declaration Esat Guta, attorney from

Prizren.

On 03/25/1999 around 10:00 a.m. I saw six people among whom I

recognized three: Sali Shehu, Reshat Shehu, Dervish Shehu. These people

were taken from their homes by the Serb police and with their hands

behind their heads were sent to the house of Selim Collaku. [The basement of this house is used as a shed.] In the entrance of the shed they

stopped them and lined them up against the wall. Then one of the five

or six Serbian policemen fired his weapon and all of them immediately

fell under the gunfire. Then two of the police left the scene of the crime

(execution) and went to the house of Srecko Tasic (25), about 80 meters

away from my house. The two policemen spoke for a half hour outside

the house with the owner of the house, Sreck and his wife, Jelena. Then

the two policemen returned to the scene of the execution. When they

arrived, after about 15 minutes, they set fire to the house where they

had executed the six people. The crime scene is about 250 meters from

my home. All my family members and I saw what happened from the

house where we were in hiding. From the scene of the execution three

policemen went to the house of Ali Emrullau and began to loot it. After

they looted it, the three policemen went to the house of Dervish Shehu

(near Ali’s house). After they took what they could, they came towards

my house. In the meantime (which was our good fortune) a truck arrived with weapons, stopped and asked for their assistance regarding

where to send the weapons. They were very close (about 30 meters) and

their conversation could be clearly heard. They got on the truck and

drove to the entrance of the village. Then we stayed there until nightfall. As soon as it got dark, we left the house and went to Drini i Bardhe

river bank. We stayed there until morning. Around 6 o’clock in the

morning we crossed the river and went to the village of Bregdri and

from there on to Albania.

In connection with the killings of the Albanian civilians of our village, a former member of the Serb police special unit testifies at the

Hague Tribunal. The witness was protected under the code name “K25”

and testified on Tuesday on 07/09/2002. In connection with the nine

civilians killed on 03/25/1999, he declared, “On March 25, 1999, around

9 o’clock the members of his company captured six men, all members of

the KLA;” (the witness, K25, attempts to mislead the Hague Tribunal

trying to represent civilians as members of the KLA, for which we will

also have reaction from families). “The six men (Sejdi Emrullahu, Sali

Shehu, Reshat Shehu, Dervish Shehu, Raif Shehu and Nexhat Shehu)

were then taken by three local police, were sent to a house and soon

after we heard shots fired. “I personally went and saw the six men we

left in the hands of the local MUP killed,” he clarified. The other three

“members” of the KLA met with the same fate; (he is talking about Isni

Rashka, Nazmi Rashka and the student Demir Rashkaj; in this case

we also have the reaction of the families about the attempts of the wit-
50

ness to disinform that they were allegedly members of the KLA).—Declaration of Zecir Sallauka from Krusha e Vogel regarding the

disappearance of six people: Sejdi Emrullahu, Sali Shehu,

Reshat Shehu, Dervish Shehu, Raif Shehu and Nexhat Shehu

On 03/25/1999, the Serbs started to burn down the houses of the Albanians. Since I was afraid that my family members and I would be

burned, we left the house. Outside I saw Tasic Sveta (1) and Nikolic

Sava (4) together with some Serbs who were wearing military uniforms.

These two together with those soldiers burned the house of the Albanians while Tasic Sveta (1) and Nikolic Sava (4) were showing which

ones were the houses of the Albanians. When I saw what was happening I asked, “Why are you burning down our houses? We have done

nothing to you.” “Have you asked for NATO? These are the good things

that NATO brings you,” they both answered.—Declaration by Kadri

Muharremi from Krusha e Vogel.

We the family members of the missing persons have been looking

around for four years trying to learn their fate but till now we have

been unsuccessful. We have visited the International Red Cross offices

in Prizren and Prishtina a hundred times, the Red Cross of Kosovo,

UNMIK’s offices in Prizren (the Regional Administrator Mr. Rudolf

Hofman) but without success. Many families, even though they have

very limited means of existence, have tried to do something with the

assistance of Serb attorneys, but they have made promises just to take

their money and have not resolved anything.

To resolve this problem we feel is relatively easy. The ones that abducted the 112 Albanian civilians, whose names are in the list and

many others who are not in the list, but who came to assist those listed,

do not live in another planet but in Serbia and Montenegro and we and

the competent authorities in Serbia and Montenegro know where they

live. That is why we consider that arresting these criminals would expedite enlightening the fate of these 112 residents of our village.

In the name of the family members of the abducted persons from

Krusha e Vogel, we request the assistance of all those who can help

enlighten the fate of these 112 people abducted (disappeared).

For any assistance in this direction, you would have the blessing of

these families, the blessing of the mothers and orphaned children and

this village would be grateful forever.

Association for the Investigation of Abducted Persons

“March 26, 1999”, Krusha e Vogel

Agron Limani, Chairman

Tel: 044-243-426

Krusha e Vogel

04.02.2003
51

PREPARED STATEMENT OF

MEHMETALI PEROLLI, HEAD,

GJAKOVA-BASED OFFICE OF THE IMPRISONED AND MISSING

PEOPLE

My name is Mehmetali Perolli, I was born in Gjakova on 09/19/1967.

Since 06/15/1999, I have been the chairman of the Office for Prisoners

and Missing Persons in Gjakova.

HISTORY OF THE OFFICE FOR PRISONERS AND MISSING

PERSONS (OPMP)

The Office for Prisoners and Missing Persons in Gjakova started its

work immediately after the arrival of the NATO troops, exactly on 06/

15/1999. The Office for Prisoners and Missing Persons is represented in

the Communal Assembly in Gjakova with the Speaker for Prisoners

and Missing Persons who has held this position since 05/04/2001.

The duty of this Office is to collect data on abducted and missing persons and then send them out to the highest international institutions, so as

to publicize and internationalize this issue and to shed light on their fate.

The Office for Prisoners and Missing Persons has organized protests

at the municipal level and beyond; it has held meetings with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe, the Hague Tribunal for War Crimes, the ICMP,

the Office for Missing Persons and Forensic Medicine, and Government

and Parliamentarian Commissions of Kosovo. It is also a special status

member of the Council of Family Associations for Missing Persons of

Kosovo. The Office maintains regular contacts with various governmental and non-governmental organizations active in Kosovo and the region.

The main purpose of the Office for Prisoners and Missing Persons is

to ensure that the issue of missing persons be treated with priority at

governmental levels and by international and local organizational structures in Kosovo.

The Office for Prisoners and Missing Persons participated in the International Conference for Human Rights, organized by UNMIK and

OSCE, which was held from December 10-11, 1999, in Prishtina, Kosovo

and continues to participate in different round tables whose core subject

is the issue of kidnapped and missing persons.

It must also be mentioned that this Office maintains contacts with

important personalities around the world, such as Mr. James Rubin,

spokesman for the United States Department of State, with U.N. Security Council members, Mr. Javier Solana, European Parliament human rights representatives, representatives of the US Office in Kosovo,

United Nations special representatives in Kosovo, and so on.

The Office for Prisoners and Missing Persons is independent from the

local government and its staff works entirely on a volunteer basis without any financial compensation.

The following organizations have assisted the Office for Prisoners and

Missing Persons so far: IOM, CORDAID, USAID, and more recently

ICMP. The Office for Prisoners and Missing Persons is grateful to all

those mentioned above as well as to the families of missing persons and

former prisoners from the Commune of Gjakova.
52

OPMP OBJECTIVES

• Continue to investigate and search for persons abducted during

the war in Kosovo;

• The return of the remains still in Serbia;

• Involve Albanian experts in the process of exhuming and identifying the bodies;

• Urge international authorities to put pressure on Belgrade to open

the files on crime;

• Bring justice for those who suffered during the war;

• Adjust the status of the family members of victimized persons;

• Reintegrate the family members of missing persons in the society; and

• Continue to investigate and search for persons abducted during

the war in Kosovo;

OBSTACLES

The creation of a climate of understanding for those who suffered during the war is an indispensable prerequisite in accomplishing

the objectives undertaken by the office. The obstacles to be overcome in

accomplishing such objectives are as follows:

• The pursuit of a Serbian national homogenization logic by the

present Belgrade authorities. Contrary to what international opinion already knows, i.e., the existence of mass graves in Serbia,

Serbian authorities continue to express their cynical and uncaring attitude towards the lifeless bodies and their family members, who are awaiting the return of the remains of their loved

ones;

• The insufficient pressure of international authorities in denouncing the Serbian regime;

• Slow actions of international authorities acting in Kosovo;

• Lack of integration of local institutions of Kosovo in the process of

exhuming and identifying the bodies;

• A limited and partial perception of the nature of the issue of missing persons which results in this issue being reduced to a concern only for the family members that suffered during the war in

Kosovo;

• The dissemination of death certificates for persons identified with

incomplete data; and

• Failure to sustain continuity of the planned steps for the identification and search of the mass graves located in Kosovo.

WAYS OF RESOLVING THE ISSUE OF MISSING PERSONS

• Urge international decision-making mechanisms to undertake

more decisive steps to continue denouncing the regime of Serbia;

• Open criminal files by the Serbian authorities;

• Apply comprehensive methods in the identification of the remains;

• Raise the issue of missing persons on an institutional level with

the Kosovo government;

• Involve Albanian experts in the process of exhuming and identifying the remains; and
53

• File criminal law suits against the perpetrators of those crimes

as well as demand compensation for the material and human

losses caused during the war in Kosovo by the Milosevic regime.



 	








  	

 

	
 	 



  

  




   

 


    


	



	
  
  


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