Killers of Serb youths in Kosovo can't be found, 15 years on
This Monday marks 15 years since unknown persons opened fire from automatic weapons on a group of Serb youths in Kosovo.
Source: B92, Tanjug
Close the entire text of the article here
(Getty Images, file, illustration purposes)
19-year-old Ivan Jovovic, and 12-year-old Pantelija Dakic were killed in the attack.
This crime that remains unsolved to this day - and that ranks among the four gravest acts of violence committed against Serb civilians in Kosovo since the arrival of international forces in the province after 1999 - also left 20-year-old Djordje Ugrenovic, 14-year-old Bogdan Bukumirovic, 12-year-old Marko Bogdanovic, and 13-year-old Dragana Srbljak seriously injured.
"Any kind of normalization between Serbs and Albanians and Belgrade and Pristina cannot be built on forgetting the mass and organized crimes committed by members of the so-called KLA ('Kosovo Liberation Army'), and without truth and justice for the numerous Serb victims in Kosovo and Metohija," the Serb Coordination said in a press release issued on the anniversary of the crime - referring to the KLA - a now disbanded ethnic Albanian armed formation which Serbia considers to be a terrorist organization.
The Serb Coordination added that in the intervening 15 years since the Gorazdevac massacre, nobody has been brought to justice - while an EULEX (EU rule of law mission in Kosovo) prosecutor said in 2010 that the investigation had been halted "due to lack of evidence."
"This has perpetuated the anti-civilizational practice of impunity for the crimes committed against Serbs in Kosovo, with no prospect of it changing it for the foreseeable future," said the Serb Coordination, which gathers Serb associations representing the families of the murdered, killed, and missing Serbs from the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia.
The organization also publicly called on "international factors" in Kosovo, and Serbia's authorities, to do all they can to bring to justice the perpetrators of this, and all other crimes committed against Serbs in Kosovo.
The anniversary of the crime, meanwhile, will be marked in Belgrade, and in Gorazdevac.
In 2001, EULEX halted its investigation - during which the police interviewed 75 witnesses and searched 100 houses - due to lack of evidence.
The parents of Ivan Jovovic and Pantelija Dakic have been expressing their disappointment each year by fact the killers of their children had not been found - adding that this was the case despite the perpetrators' names being in fact "known."
The killers remain free to this day despite the head of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police promising at the time to "leave no stone unturned" in a bid to find them.
UNMIK offering a one-million-euro money reward did not help, either.
In the wake of the attack, the UN Security Council held an urgent session.
The Gorazdevac massacre ranks among the most serious crimes committed against Serb civilians in Kosovo after the 1999 war.
Other incidents include the killing of 14 Serb farmers in Staro Gracko, the murder of the three-member Stolic family in Obilic, a town near Pristina, and the attack on a Nis Express bus near Podujevo, that killed 12 Serb passengers who were on their way to visit the graves of their loved ones on an Orthodox Christian holiday.
Its easy enough everyone knows who killed them .. you and your own fascist government did.. just like you did in peja where you killed your own kids In that bar (panda) and tried to frame albanians for it.. your own people in BIA confirmed this ..
(Demo, 14 August 2018 20:51)
@PP: I recommend you to be in the first line. I mean a hero like you should have that honour.
But please meet with serbian nationalists on a field and kill each other. The less of your kind (not albanians, but nationalists on both sides) the better for normal people living in the region.
You guys are the cancer of the region.
(Tito reloaded, 14 August 2018 19:19)
Glad that we epelled those 200 000 serbian invaders from our home. Time to get rid of the serbian virus infesting Northen Kosovo. One way or another....
(PP, 14 August 2018 16:14)
The violence against the historic home of Serbs in Kosovo, the illegality of the "West" in committing a massive war crime, is now obvious. Now we know the true Serb character which will not surrender.
Solution : take back all of Kosovo and expel remaining Albanians to their land they identify with. This is 2018. The world knows more about rogue criminal elements, that are bringing their havoc into and beyond Europe, which shall not protest if they are wise. They too are losing their ancient history and land to invaders, who are anything but peaceful.
(Betsy Lalich, 14 August 2018 15:24)
In July 2014, EU Special Investigative Task Force chief prosecutor Clint Williamson, announced that his team had procured enough evidence to support indictments against senior KLA members. The charges Williamson listed included unlawful killing, abduction, illegal detention, sexual violence, forced displacement of individuals from their homes and communities, and the desecration and destruction of religious sites. He went on to say that these acts of persecution effectively resulted in the ethnic cleansing of large portions of the Serb, Roma and non-Albanian population from Kosovo. “The evidence is compelling that these crimes were not the acts of rogue individuals acting on their own accord, but rather that they were conducted in an organized fashion and were sanctioned by certain individuals in the top levels of the KLA leadership.â€
(bob, 14 August 2018 11:30)
Unknown! You all know who killed them even Serbia President Vucic said is a shame of Serbia’s secret service to how they killed these youngsters in their way to blame Albanians.And trust me Your dirty and shame secret service has killed many more Kosovo Albanians Politician and Kosovo Serbs Politicians.Dark days are Coming for Serbia as they not just committed the worst Genoside during the War to both Albanians and Serbs but they continued after the War these barbaric crimes.
(The Truth, 14 August 2018 09:16)
During the post war Kosovo 1999-2008, a thousand serb civilians were hunted down and were tortured,raped and slaughtered by the Kosovo Liberation Army and the local Albanians. Not to mention 200 000 serbs were expelled with force from their homes and their property were burned down.
(JJ, 13 August 2018 15:35)
Can you please provide a date and a location where that happened, dear? Please note that your answer should only include events that happened in the real world; what happened inside your imagination does not count...
(icj1, 14 August 2018 03:44)
Really? Unsolved murders in Kosovo? Albanians blaming Serbia by using a Yugoslav institution that no longer existed in 2003 for it? Shocking! What next? Kosovo's democratic leaders are actually war criminals hiding behind U.S. protection? Perish the thought!
The whole place is a cesspool of crime, mayhem, misery, poverty, and inbred nationalism. But hey, they're "free" of Serbia so who cares, right?
(the actual truth, 14 August 2018 00:20)
@the truth
"Serbian UDB knows the killers, because they work for UDB!I worked in UNMIK Police Commissioner's office at that time and Police Commissioner Fuller knows the truth , that Serb agents did the killing! We went as far as hiring a Moldavian hooker to work in kafana in Gorazhdevac, but was unable to get the truth since all villagers were scared to death to say anything about the killers from Belgrade!"
this really sounds much more like a conspiracy. it reads like a tom clancy novel. i'm just waiting for the caterpilar drive to come up in some of your truth tellings.
now, far be it from me to be stuck to a fairtale, so if you have some actual evidence please table it.
otherwise, i see the truth as being something like this:
Kosovo official institutions, as they are made up primarily of former kla
- terrorist organization members (interpol's words not mine), should be able to properly account for the 1 million ethnic albanians that were turned refugee, and the 50,000 that were killed by their operatives. they killed their own for not falling in line. we all know that the weak serb military could never have accomplished such devestation (its like saying my 1978 pinto was clocked at 245 mph - just fairytales)
or is it the truth...
who knows... when truth starts out as fairytales, where do we go from there?
(iron knee, 13 August 2018 22:55)
Serbian UDB knows the killers, because they work for UDB!I worked in UNMIK Police Commissioner's office at that time and Police Commissioner Fuller knows the truth , that Serb agents did the killing! We went as far as hiring a Moldavian hooker to work in kafana in Gorazhdevac, but was unable to get the truth since all villagers were scared to death to say anything about the killers from Belgrade!
(the truth, 13 August 2018 17:38)
What else can one expect in Europe's Youngest Democracy where life is so free that murderers, thieves and criminals not only walk the streets but get elected to high office?
(Navi, 13 August 2018 16:26)
Lol hamdi your number of 20000 albainians is larger that the amount of people killed during the 1999 conflict on both sides....cool story bro tell me that horseshit again !
(mike, 13 August 2018 16:30)
What else can one expect in Europe's Youngest Democracy where life is so free that murderers, thieves and criminals not only walk the streets but get elected to high office?
(Navi, 13 August 2018 16:26)
what about 20.000 albanians killed in 1999 and more than 2000 that the bodies never were found ?
(hamdi, 13 August 2018 15:20)
Now the number has been inflated to 20,000? It started with the fictional number of 10,000 taken from a State Department document with no evidence to backup the number because it was an estimate that Albanians love to use as fact. Over time it grew to 12K, and then 15K.
Apparently Milosevic's ghost built a time machine and went back to kill another 5,000? When did this happen? This weekend?
Inflating numbers doesn't make you the bigger victim. It just makes you the bigger idiot.
(LOL, 13 August 2018 16:05)
Below are excerpts of a report written by Human Rights Watch on abuses conducted by the KLA in 1999. "In Lipljan, a Serb male was decapitated in the middle of the town's busy market on July 9, according to KFOR military police in the town. As of July 16, no witnesses had come forward. There are numerous reports of killings where it has been difficult to identify the perpetrators because so many Serbs have fled or are afraid.""Killings of Serb civilians took place near the village of Gracko, in central Kosovo. Fourteen farmers were shot dead as they harvested hay in the single biggest massacre since KFOR entered the province. The farmers were reportedly shot at close range."
(bob, 13 August 2018 15:47)
During the post war Kosovo 1999-2008, a thousand serb civilians were hunted down and were tortured,raped and slaughtered by the Kosovo Liberation Army and the local Albanians. Not to mention 200 000 serbs were expelled with force from their homes and their property were burned down. KFOR was mostly useless and could not prevent Albanians from murdering serbs
(JJ, 13 August 2018 15:35)
I cant believe my eyes reading this . You counted around 10 serbians there , what about 20.000 albanians killed in 1999 and more than 2000 that the bodies never were found ? There is a future in the balkans but Serbia need to apologize for all the crimes that took place in 1999 .
(hamdi, 13 August 2018 15:20)
what about 20.000 albanians killed in 1999 and more than 2000 that the bodies never were found ?
(hamdi, 13 August 2018 15:20)
Now the number has been inflated to 20,000? It started with the fictional number of 10,000 taken from a State Department document with no evidence to backup the number because it was an estimate that Albanians love to use as fact. Over time it grew to 12K, and then 15K.
Apparently Milosevic's ghost built a time machine and went back to kill another 5,000? When did this happen? This weekend?
Inflating numbers doesn't make you the bigger victim. It just makes you the bigger idiot.
(LOL, 13 August 2018 16:05)
During the post war Kosovo 1999-2008, a thousand serb civilians were hunted down and were tortured,raped and slaughtered by the Kosovo Liberation Army and the local Albanians. Not to mention 200 000 serbs were expelled with force from their homes and their property were burned down. KFOR was mostly useless and could not prevent Albanians from murdering serbs
(JJ, 13 August 2018 15:35)
What else can one expect in Europe's Youngest Democracy where life is so free that murderers, thieves and criminals not only walk the streets but get elected to high office?
(Navi, 13 August 2018 16:26)
Lol hamdi your number of 20000 albainians is larger that the amount of people killed during the 1999 conflict on both sides....cool story bro tell me that horseshit again !
(mike, 13 August 2018 16:30)
What else can one expect in Europe's Youngest Democracy where life is so free that murderers, thieves and criminals not only walk the streets but get elected to high office?
(Navi, 13 August 2018 16:26)
Below are excerpts of a report written by Human Rights Watch on abuses conducted by the KLA in 1999. "In Lipljan, a Serb male was decapitated in the middle of the town's busy market on July 9, according to KFOR military police in the town. As of July 16, no witnesses had come forward. There are numerous reports of killings where it has been difficult to identify the perpetrators because so many Serbs have fled or are afraid.""Killings of Serb civilians took place near the village of Gracko, in central Kosovo. Fourteen farmers were shot dead as they harvested hay in the single biggest massacre since KFOR entered the province. The farmers were reportedly shot at close range."
(bob, 13 August 2018 15:47)
Serbian UDB knows the killers, because they work for UDB!I worked in UNMIK Police Commissioner's office at that time and Police Commissioner Fuller knows the truth , that Serb agents did the killing! We went as far as hiring a Moldavian hooker to work in kafana in Gorazhdevac, but was unable to get the truth since all villagers were scared to death to say anything about the killers from Belgrade!
(the truth, 13 August 2018 17:38)
I cant believe my eyes reading this . You counted around 10 serbians there , what about 20.000 albanians killed in 1999 and more than 2000 that the bodies never were found ? There is a future in the balkans but Serbia need to apologize for all the crimes that took place in 1999 .
(hamdi, 13 August 2018 15:20)
In July 2014, EU Special Investigative Task Force chief prosecutor Clint Williamson, announced that his team had procured enough evidence to support indictments against senior KLA members. The charges Williamson listed included unlawful killing, abduction, illegal detention, sexual violence, forced displacement of individuals from their homes and communities, and the desecration and destruction of religious sites. He went on to say that these acts of persecution effectively resulted in the ethnic cleansing of large portions of the Serb, Roma and non-Albanian population from Kosovo. “The evidence is compelling that these crimes were not the acts of rogue individuals acting on their own accord, but rather that they were conducted in an organized fashion and were sanctioned by certain individuals in the top levels of the KLA leadership.â€
(bob, 14 August 2018 11:30)
During the post war Kosovo 1999-2008, a thousand serb civilians were hunted down and were tortured,raped and slaughtered by the Kosovo Liberation Army and the local Albanians. Not to mention 200 000 serbs were expelled with force from their homes and their property were burned down.
(JJ, 13 August 2018 15:35)
Can you please provide a date and a location where that happened, dear? Please note that your answer should only include events that happened in the real world; what happened inside your imagination does not count...
(icj1, 14 August 2018 03:44)
Unknown! You all know who killed them even Serbia President Vucic said is a shame of Serbia’s secret service to how they killed these youngsters in their way to blame Albanians.And trust me Your dirty and shame secret service has killed many more Kosovo Albanians Politician and Kosovo Serbs Politicians.Dark days are Coming for Serbia as they not just committed the worst Genoside during the War to both Albanians and Serbs but they continued after the War these barbaric crimes.
(The Truth, 14 August 2018 09:16)
Glad that we epelled those 200 000 serbian invaders from our home. Time to get rid of the serbian virus infesting Northen Kosovo. One way or another....
(PP, 14 August 2018 16:14)
Really? Unsolved murders in Kosovo? Albanians blaming Serbia by using a Yugoslav institution that no longer existed in 2003 for it? Shocking! What next? Kosovo's democratic leaders are actually war criminals hiding behind U.S. protection? Perish the thought!
The whole place is a cesspool of crime, mayhem, misery, poverty, and inbred nationalism. But hey, they're "free" of Serbia so who cares, right?
(the actual truth, 14 August 2018 00:20)
Its easy enough everyone knows who killed them .. you and your own fascist government did.. just like you did in peja where you killed your own kids In that bar (panda) and tried to frame albanians for it.. your own people in BIA confirmed this ..
(Demo, 14 August 2018 20:51)
@PP: I recommend you to be in the first line. I mean a hero like you should have that honour.
But please meet with serbian nationalists on a field and kill each other. The less of your kind (not albanians, but nationalists on both sides) the better for normal people living in the region.
You guys are the cancer of the region.
(Tito reloaded, 14 August 2018 19:19)
The violence against the historic home of Serbs in Kosovo, the illegality of the "West" in committing a massive war crime, is now obvious. Now we know the true Serb character which will not surrender.
Solution : take back all of Kosovo and expel remaining Albanians to their land they identify with. This is 2018. The world knows more about rogue criminal elements, that are bringing their havoc into and beyond Europe, which shall not protest if they are wise. They too are losing their ancient history and land to invaders, who are anything but peaceful.
(Betsy Lalich, 14 August 2018 15:24)
@the truth
"Serbian UDB knows the killers, because they work for UDB!I worked in UNMIK Police Commissioner's office at that time and Police Commissioner Fuller knows the truth , that Serb agents did the killing! We went as far as hiring a Moldavian hooker to work in kafana in Gorazhdevac, but was unable to get the truth since all villagers were scared to death to say anything about the killers from Belgrade!"
this really sounds much more like a conspiracy. it reads like a tom clancy novel. i'm just waiting for the caterpilar drive to come up in some of your truth tellings.
now, far be it from me to be stuck to a fairtale, so if you have some actual evidence please table it.
otherwise, i see the truth as being something like this:
Kosovo official institutions, as they are made up primarily of former kla
- terrorist organization members (interpol's words not mine), should be able to properly account for the 1 million ethnic albanians that were turned refugee, and the 50,000 that were killed by their operatives. they killed their own for not falling in line. we all know that the weak serb military could never have accomplished such devestation (its like saying my 1978 pinto was clocked at 245 mph - just fairytales)
or is it the truth...
who knows... when truth starts out as fairytales, where do we go from there?
(iron knee, 13 August 2018 22:55)
I cant believe my eyes reading this . You counted around 10 serbians there , what about 20.000 albanians killed in 1999 and more than 2000 that the bodies never were found ? There is a future in the balkans but Serbia need to apologize for all the crimes that took place in 1999 .
(hamdi, 13 August 2018 15:20)
Serbian UDB knows the killers, because they work for UDB!I worked in UNMIK Police Commissioner's office at that time and Police Commissioner Fuller knows the truth , that Serb agents did the killing! We went as far as hiring a Moldavian hooker to work in kafana in Gorazhdevac, but was unable to get the truth since all villagers were scared to death to say anything about the killers from Belgrade!
(the truth, 13 August 2018 17:38)
Lol hamdi your number of 20000 albainians is larger that the amount of people killed during the 1999 conflict on both sides....cool story bro tell me that horseshit again !
(mike, 13 August 2018 16:30)
Below are excerpts of a report written by Human Rights Watch on abuses conducted by the KLA in 1999. "In Lipljan, a Serb male was decapitated in the middle of the town's busy market on July 9, according to KFOR military police in the town. As of July 16, no witnesses had come forward. There are numerous reports of killings where it has been difficult to identify the perpetrators because so many Serbs have fled or are afraid.""Killings of Serb civilians took place near the village of Gracko, in central Kosovo. Fourteen farmers were shot dead as they harvested hay in the single biggest massacre since KFOR entered the province. The farmers were reportedly shot at close range."
(bob, 13 August 2018 15:47)
During the post war Kosovo 1999-2008, a thousand serb civilians were hunted down and were tortured,raped and slaughtered by the Kosovo Liberation Army and the local Albanians. Not to mention 200 000 serbs were expelled with force from their homes and their property were burned down. KFOR was mostly useless and could not prevent Albanians from murdering serbs
(JJ, 13 August 2018 15:35)
During the post war Kosovo 1999-2008, a thousand serb civilians were hunted down and were tortured,raped and slaughtered by the Kosovo Liberation Army and the local Albanians. Not to mention 200 000 serbs were expelled with force from their homes and their property were burned down.
(JJ, 13 August 2018 15:35)
Can you please provide a date and a location where that happened, dear? Please note that your answer should only include events that happened in the real world; what happened inside your imagination does not count...
(icj1, 14 August 2018 03:44)
Glad that we epelled those 200 000 serbian invaders from our home. Time to get rid of the serbian virus infesting Northen Kosovo. One way or another....
(PP, 14 August 2018 16:14)
what about 20.000 albanians killed in 1999 and more than 2000 that the bodies never were found ?
(hamdi, 13 August 2018 15:20)
Now the number has been inflated to 20,000? It started with the fictional number of 10,000 taken from a State Department document with no evidence to backup the number because it was an estimate that Albanians love to use as fact. Over time it grew to 12K, and then 15K.
Apparently Milosevic's ghost built a time machine and went back to kill another 5,000? When did this happen? This weekend?
Inflating numbers doesn't make you the bigger victim. It just makes you the bigger idiot.
(LOL, 13 August 2018 16:05)
What else can one expect in Europe's Youngest Democracy where life is so free that murderers, thieves and criminals not only walk the streets but get elected to high office?
(Navi, 13 August 2018 16:26)
Unknown! You all know who killed them even Serbia President Vucic said is a shame of Serbia’s secret service to how they killed these youngsters in their way to blame Albanians.And trust me Your dirty and shame secret service has killed many more Kosovo Albanians Politician and Kosovo Serbs Politicians.Dark days are Coming for Serbia as they not just committed the worst Genoside during the War to both Albanians and Serbs but they continued after the War these barbaric crimes.
(The Truth, 14 August 2018 09:16)
What else can one expect in Europe's Youngest Democracy where life is so free that murderers, thieves and criminals not only walk the streets but get elected to high office?
(Navi, 13 August 2018 16:26)
The violence against the historic home of Serbs in Kosovo, the illegality of the "West" in committing a massive war crime, is now obvious. Now we know the true Serb character which will not surrender.
Solution : take back all of Kosovo and expel remaining Albanians to their land they identify with. This is 2018. The world knows more about rogue criminal elements, that are bringing their havoc into and beyond Europe, which shall not protest if they are wise. They too are losing their ancient history and land to invaders, who are anything but peaceful.
(Betsy Lalich, 14 August 2018 15:24)
Really? Unsolved murders in Kosovo? Albanians blaming Serbia by using a Yugoslav institution that no longer existed in 2003 for it? Shocking! What next? Kosovo's democratic leaders are actually war criminals hiding behind U.S. protection? Perish the thought!
The whole place is a cesspool of crime, mayhem, misery, poverty, and inbred nationalism. But hey, they're "free" of Serbia so who cares, right?
(the actual truth, 14 August 2018 00:20)
Its easy enough everyone knows who killed them .. you and your own fascist government did.. just like you did in peja where you killed your own kids In that bar (panda) and tried to frame albanians for it.. your own people in BIA confirmed this ..
(Demo, 14 August 2018 20:51)
@the truth
"Serbian UDB knows the killers, because they work for UDB!I worked in UNMIK Police Commissioner's office at that time and Police Commissioner Fuller knows the truth , that Serb agents did the killing! We went as far as hiring a Moldavian hooker to work in kafana in Gorazhdevac, but was unable to get the truth since all villagers were scared to death to say anything about the killers from Belgrade!"
this really sounds much more like a conspiracy. it reads like a tom clancy novel. i'm just waiting for the caterpilar drive to come up in some of your truth tellings.
now, far be it from me to be stuck to a fairtale, so if you have some actual evidence please table it.
otherwise, i see the truth as being something like this:
Kosovo official institutions, as they are made up primarily of former kla
- terrorist organization members (interpol's words not mine), should be able to properly account for the 1 million ethnic albanians that were turned refugee, and the 50,000 that were killed by their operatives. they killed their own for not falling in line. we all know that the weak serb military could never have accomplished such devestation (its like saying my 1978 pinto was clocked at 245 mph - just fairytales)
or is it the truth...
who knows... when truth starts out as fairytales, where do we go from there?
(iron knee, 13 August 2018 22:55)
In July 2014, EU Special Investigative Task Force chief prosecutor Clint Williamson, announced that his team had procured enough evidence to support indictments against senior KLA members. The charges Williamson listed included unlawful killing, abduction, illegal detention, sexual violence, forced displacement of individuals from their homes and communities, and the desecration and destruction of religious sites. He went on to say that these acts of persecution effectively resulted in the ethnic cleansing of large portions of the Serb, Roma and non-Albanian population from Kosovo. “The evidence is compelling that these crimes were not the acts of rogue individuals acting on their own accord, but rather that they were conducted in an organized fashion and were sanctioned by certain individuals in the top levels of the KLA leadership.â€
(bob, 14 August 2018 11:30)
@PP: I recommend you to be in the first line. I mean a hero like you should have that honour.
But please meet with serbian nationalists on a field and kill each other. The less of your kind (not albanians, but nationalists on both sides) the better for normal people living in the region.
You guys are the cancer of the region.
(Tito reloaded, 14 August 2018 19:19)