WRITTEN QUESTION E-0628/00

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(2 March 2000)

Subject: Kosovo: establishing the truth about the mass murders in Racak in January 1999, with reference to the report by Dr Helena Ranta, EU observer in Pristina

1. Does the Council recall the report that on 15 January 1999 the Serbian army marched into the Kosovar village of Racak and abducted 45 ethnic Albanian men, whose bodies were subsequently discovered, and that this atrocity was one of the causes of the war that was fought later in 1999 over Kosovo?

2. Is the Council aware of the press report of March 1999 by Dr Helena Ranta, a member of the team of European Union forensic experts in Pristina assigned at the request of the OSCE who examined 40 bodies on 22 January 1999, in which she expresses serious doubts about the credibility of the then accepted view on the mass murder referred to in Question 1?

3. Is the Council in possession of a more detailed report on this event by Dr Ranta and her team or from another official source? Is this report, or are these reports, available to the public?

4. Can the Council say whether the implicit recommendation in Dr Ranta's report, that there should first be a thorough police investigation to give an overall picture of what happened in Racak, has been followed up?

5. If so, are the results available? If not, why have these recommendations not (yet) been followed up?

6. Does the Council have copies of the reports on the post mortems carried out on the civilian victims in Racak to which Dr Ranta's report refers?

7. Is the Council prepared, if only to ease the tension in the area concerned, to press for the continuation of the investigation into the real circumstances surrounding the mass murder in Racak as far as possible and for the publication of the findings, even if they depart significantly from the interpretations made public at the time when the victims were discovered?

Reply

(8 June 2000)

The Council expressed at the time its outrage at the massacre in Racak. It is aware of press reports published in March 1999, stressing that there were no signs that the victims were anything other than unarmed civilians.

Ms Carla Del Ponte, Prosecutor of the ICTY, stated on 29 September 1999, following her appointment, that the ICTY will continue investigating crimes committed during the armed conflict in Kosovo and that she is determined to prosecute those responsible before the Trial Chambers at The Hague.

It is the understanding of the Presidency that the indictment, confirmed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on 24 May 1999, of Mr Slobodan Milosevic, President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), Mr Milan Milutinovic, President of Serbia, Mr Nikola Sainovic, Deputy Prime Minister of the FRY, Mr Dragoljub Ojdanic, Chief of Staff of the Yugoslav Army, and Mr Vlajko Stojiljkovic, Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia for murder, persecution and deportation in Kosovo also covers the massacre of Racak.

The Council emphasises the resolve of the Member States of the EU to cooperate fully with the ICTY and to meet their obligations under relevant UN Security Council Resolutions. As recalled by the President of the ICTY on 31 May 1999, these obligations also include that all States and organisations in possession of information pertaining to alleged crimes within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal should make it available to the Prosecutor. The Council, to which the forensic experts mission reported, respected this obligation by transmitting the autopsy reports on the Racak massacre to ICTY under the German Presidency in the first half of 1999. The Council does not see fit to comment further on a pending legal procedure.