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Following a number o declarations o support or the Initiative or RECOM, the voices o the
Presidents o Serbia and Croatia, Boris adic and Ivo Josipovic, have gone silent on the subject.
Te meetings between the two presidents, who at one point met so requently that we almost
thought they had become best riends, have become less requent too. Obviously, the theme
o reconciliation is no longer a political priority or either o them. Trough his meetings
with adic, Josipovic positioned himsel against the then government led by the HDZ. adic
assessed that one should not overdo reconciliation, because balance should be established
with the so-called patriotic opposition.
In Serbia, elections have been scheduled or May, and it is quite obvious that major local
political actors wont make RECOM part o their pre-election rhetoric. As is always the case,
the elections will become a stage or competing demagogues and their social and patriotic
topics, while the voice o the victims will remain, alas, once again in the margins.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is still thwarted by its own internal problems, so it turns out that none
o the politicians in that state has enough time to deal with reconciliation, even i the topic is
in act crucial to the uture o the country. One gets the impression that it is actually in the
interest o some politicians rom Bosnia and Herzegovina that the acts about past wars are
never established, so that they can continue to govern indenitely, in the same manner that led
to the wars.
Macedonia, on the other hand, nds itsel in a maelstrom o nationalism that threatens to
escalate into something much worse than mere skirmishes. Te public, even i it really wanted
!Reconciliation
as aPoliticalTaboo
Dinko Gruhonji
EDITORIAL
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to, is now araid to broach the subject o dealing with the 2001 conict, because people believe
it would almost be like adding uel to the re. Kosovo is also too busy dealing with its own
internal issues and ghting battles on the domestic political scene, while in Slovenia the idea
o RECOM has yet to be promoted, because the prevailing public attitude is that Slovenia has
more or less nothing to do with dealing with the past.
Only in Podgorica, where the power o the DPS
remains rm, has the courage not only to support
RECOM, but also to oer itsel, in the shape o
President Filip Vujanovic, to be the advocate
o the idea in the entire region. Montenegros
President has sent a letter about RECOM to the Presidents o all o the countries in the region.
Te only question is whether anyone has read it and understood the message
Nationalist politicians dont like to see the acts established and dont like any such return to
the past Tey are in avor o the ollowing logic instead: Enough o the past, lets turn to the
uture. And i they have to talk about the recent past, they talk about it in terms o their own
truth. For, there are those among them who were, in one way or another, complicit in the
crimes. As or the pro-European political parties, their logic is this: Let those who started the
wars and committed the crimes deal with the past.
rying to convince the politicians in the region that RECOM is not only necessary, but also
one o the preconditions or a successul uture, will not be easy o course. Ater all, no one
expected it to be easy. But the idea o RECOM has been personied in the 550,000 signatures
o the citizens o this region, and in 150 consultative meetings with representatives o a wide
range o civil society organizations, that resulted in the adoption o the Drat Statute o the
uture Commission; and it is personied, urthermore, in the hundreds o organizations and
thousands o renowned individuals who support the Initiative or RECOM.
But i the countries o this region really want to become part o the civilized world, they will
have to comply with the standards that apply in that world. It is thereore necessary to appeal to
European politicians to become allies o RECOM and to reresh the memory o their Balkan
counterparts rom time to time. Te main work, however, is or us to do together with our
politicians. Te sooner, the better.
Dinko Gruhonji
Author is a journalist from Novi Sad, and member of the Regional eam of Advocates of the
Initiative for RECOM
Nationalist politicians dont like to see the
acts established and dont like any such
return to the past.
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European Parliament
photo: http://chic-project.eu
Te Resolution on Serbias progress, adopted by the European Parliament, prominent place was
given to the Initiative or RECOM and to the ailures and omissions o the witness protection
program
On March 29, 2012, the European Parliament
adopted a Resolution on Serbias progress (2011/2886
RSP) - a document previously prepared by the
Slovenian MP Jelko Kacin. In paragraph 20, the
European Parliament warns o serious ailures in
the operation o the witness protection program in
relation to war crimes trials, due to which, and ater
systematic intimidation, a number o witnesses voluntarily withdrew rom the program; [Te
Parliament] calls on [the Serbian] Ministry o the Interior and the Ofce o the Prosecutor
or War Crimes to be actively engaged in ensuring the saety and good status o all witnesses
involved in the protection program; [Te European Parliament] emphasizes that an eective
protection program is essential or the rule o law in any country, as well as or a demonstrationo the political will to eectively prosecute cases o war crimes, which have been transerred by
the ICY to national courts.
Te European Parliament urges the authorities in Belgrade to ensure legal rehabilitation
and nancial compensation or those who were convicted in the past on political, ethnic or
religious grounds, including those who were victims o collective guilt.
Paragraph 39 o the Resolution expresses support or the Initiative or RECOM (the Regional
!European
Parliament:boost orRECOMs rolein the Western
Balkans
IN THE NEWSInstitutional support to Initiative REKOM
The European Parliament expresses its
support or the Initiative or RECOM andits urther channeling o the process o
reconciliation in the entire region o the
Western Balkans.
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Commission or investigating and disclosing the truth about war crimes and other serious
human rights violations in the ormer Yugoslavia) and its continued initiation and channeling
o the process o reconciliation in the entire region o the Western Balkans.
Commissioner Tomas Hammarberg,
photo: European Council
Te positive eects o the RECOM process were already visible, said Tomas Hammarberg the
Human Rights Commissioner o the Council o Europe, at a press conerence
Te regional approach to the process o attaining justice and
establishing the acts in the ormer Yugoslavia is very important,
and the establishment o a Regional Commission or ruth and
Reconciliation could be an important means o achieving that goal,
said Tomas Hammarberg, the Human Rights Commissioner o
the Council o Europe, at a press conerence in Sarajevo on March
19, ollowing the publication o his report Post-Conict Justice and
Lasting Peace in the Former Yugoslavia.
Once again, Commissioner Hammarberg expressed his support or RECOM and pointed
out the importance o this initiative, which he said was based on values that must not be
neglected. He appealed to political elites in the region, emphasizing that a serious discussion
about RECOM must be launched as soon as possible. However, Hammarberg also expressed
some skepticism that politicians in the region would ever truly and ully accept the idea o
RECOM. Te Commissioner said that the positive eects o the RECOM process were already
visible such as the general public discussion about the events o war which, according to
Hammarberg, was one o the essential elements o postwar justice. Speaking about the benets
Once again, Commissioner
Hammarberg expressed his
support or RECOM and
pointed out the importance o
this initiative, which he said
was based on values that must
not be neglected.
!Councilo EuropeHuman RightsCommissioner
supportsestablishmento RECOM
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o RECOM, he stressed the importance o a common narrative in the region and o achieving
consensus on the key acts, and he welcomed RECOMs exclusive ocus on the process o
establishing the acts. He added that in his opinion, such consensus did not preclude respect or
and understanding o the dierent versions o the truth, which every ethnic group held, because
that too was one o the aspects o reconciliation. However, a common position on the key acts
o the events that took place during the wars in the 1990s must be established, he stressed. He
also noted that RECOM could acilitate the regions path toward European integration.
In addition to the question o RECOM, Hammarberg also emphasized the necessity o a history
curriculum based on objective acts, improvement o the witness protection system and the
system o legal regulation o war crimes prosecutions, as well as the realization o the rights
o war victims and their amilies to reparation. He also pointed out the ailure o the ICYs
Outreach Program to explain the judicial procedure to the public in the region, and its ailure
to justiy the courts rulings, something, which, he said, would have prevented local political
manipulation o the Courts verdicts.
Edina urkovi,Director of the association ransitional Justice, Responsibility and Memory in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Te initiative aimed at establishing a regional truth commission (RECOM)
In 2008 a regional coalition o non-governmental organisations (Coalition) launched an initia-
tive aimed at establishing a regional truth commission (RECOM). Te Coalition consists o a
network o about 1 500 non-governmental organisations, associations, and individuals. Te
!Excerpt romthe report by theHuman RightsCommissionero the Council oEurope, ThomasHammarberg, intothe Initiative or
RECOM
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initiative was created by civil society representatives rom Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Croatia with extensive experience in post-war justice.
On 26 March 2011 the Coalition adopted a drat statute or an international agreement which
the ormer Yugoslav states have been asked to ratiy in order to make it part o their national
legal systems. Te statute also provides that an ofcial, independent commission shall be es-tablished to proactively investigate all alleged
war crimes and human rights abuses committed
during the wars o the 1990s. At the end o its
three-year mandate, the commission would is-
sue a report containing the acts established and
recommendations in terms o reparations, non-
recurrence and urther steps to be taken. It would
also create an archive, open to the public.
Te Coalition has sought to collect one million
signatures rom citizens in the region in sup-
port o establishing the above commission. As o
mid-2011 the Coalition had collected about hal
a million signatures, which were handed over to
the President o Croatia, the Presidency o Bosnia
and Herzegovina and a State Secretary o the
Slovenian government.
As o February 2011 support or the Coalition had
been expressed by the Parliament o Montenegro,
the Presidents o Serbia and Croatia, theEuropean Commission, the Subcommittee or
Human Rights o the European Parliament
and the Serbian Parliamentary Committee or
European Integration. In April 2011 a number o political parties represented in the Parliament
o Serbia and the Prime Minister o Montenegro expressed their support or the establishment
o RECOM. In May 2011 the Slovenian President, Danilo rk, and the Parliament Speaker,
Pavel Gantar, also expressed their support or the initiative. However, reports have indicated
that there are other leading politicians in the region who oppose this initiative.
Report: Post-War Justice and Lasting Peace in the Former Yugoslavia, p. 35, available at:http://www.coe.int/t/commissioner/Source/prems/Prems14712_GBR_1700_PostwarJustice.pdf
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In an interview with the Croatian -Portal, Serge Brammertz emphasized the importance o
the Initiative or RECOM.
Croatian -Portal published an interview with the Chie Prosecutor o the ICY, Serge
Brammertz, beore his visit to Croatia.
We welcome every initiative in the region aimed at establishing the acts about the
crimes committed in the 1990s, whose mission is to promote reconciliation. Initiatives
such as RECOM are important, because as they are made by state level non-governmentalorganizations and members o civil society, they can complement the work both o the Hague
Court and local courts.
Te interview is available at: http://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/184500/Da-nije-bilo-
Haskog-suda-ne-bi-bilo-ni-pravde-za-zrtve.html
!ChieProsecutoro ICTY SergeBrammertzsupportsRECOM
Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz
photo: ICY
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DEBATE
A roundtable debate organized by the Human Rights Commissioner o the Council o Europe
centered on the question o whether the European institutions should support the Initiative or
RECOM
At a roundtable with human rights deenders, held in Sarajevo on March 18, 2012,
and organized by the Human Rights Commissioner o the Council o Europe, Tomas
Hammarberg, on the occasion o the presentation o the reportPost-War Justice and Lasting
Peace in the Former Yugoslavia, several participants expressed the view that international
institutions should not support the institutionalization o the Initiative or RECOM. Members
o the Coalition or RECOM strongly argued that only RECOM had the potential to establishthe actual truth about victims and war crimes.
A representative o an NGO rom the Republika Srpska, asked the Commissioner not to seek
the support o local authorities or RECOM because they were very concerned about the
reasons or putting orward such a request to the authorities o Bosnia and Herzegovina. In
her view, calls rom the Coalition or RECOM or the international community to urge the
authorities in the region to establish RECOM would be an act o aggression, something Serbia
and Montenegro had already carried out against Bosnia and Herzegovina, back in 1992. She
called on the Commissioner not to work to see RECOM established. Te same position was put
orward by another participant rom a non-governmental organization based in the Federation.A representative o a non-governmental organization rom Serbia agreed that the request to
create the Commission should not be submitted to any government in the region: the Initiative
or RECOM had already made a major contribution, by opening up public debate about the
!Challenges
to andSupportor theInitiative or
RECOM
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recent past, but urther investment in this initiative was likely to ail, she said. She warned that
the RECOM process had monopolized the process o reconciliation in the region, as donors set
aside money exclusively or that project, which she said was not good, because there were other
initiatives dealing with reconciliation and truth.
Several participants expressed the view that there was a great risk that RECOM wouldail even i it became established, and that this would be a new disaster or the victims.
Some participants said that the process o establishment would take a long time and that
many victims would not live to see the Commissions operation. Consequently, they said,
it was better to support other initiatives, which were simpler and had greater chances o
success. A participant rom Republika Srpska added that during the process o the creation
o a transitional justice strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (in which she had personally
participated as a member o the strategy working group), the victims clearly demanded that
the strategy omit the establishment o a truth commission as they do not trust that particular
the mechanism o justice. She then added that lack o condence by victims was clearly
demonstrated by the act that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, several truth commissions have
already ailed those or Bijeljina, Sarajevo and Srebrenica.
Other representatives rom Bosnia and Herzegovina voiced dierent views, however. A
representative o an organization that brings together young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
pointed out that her organization strongly supported the establishment o RECOM, and sees it
playing a part in the uture o their country.
A participant rom Croatia responded to the remarks
that victims do not support the establishment
o RECOM, and argued that there was ample
public support, and support rom victims, or the
establishment o RECOM. Lack o support rom
certain groups is not always an objective measure o whether the idea o RECOM is good or
not, he added. o corroborate that view he noted that in Croatia, it is associations o victims
that most oten protest against the rulings o the International Criminal ribunal or the
Former Yugoslavia, and which oten do not support the court itsel. He added that there was
no alternative to RECOM, in terms o a mechanism at a regional level that could oer ofcially
accepted acts which would then be used in the regions educational systems and which
politicians would use as a basis or the interpretation o past events. Responding to urtherarguments that the region already had recourse to the acts established in the courts and that
the problem was not the absence o acts but absence o their disclosure, a representative
rom Croatia said that it seemed rude to even say that the necessary acts have already been
established, when there were more than 14,000 people in the region still registered as missing.
A human rights deender rom Montenegro added that it was rather insulting to say that
victims do not understand RECOMs Drat Statute, and that it was groundless and arbitrary to
say that they do not support the establishment o RECOM. Positive attitudes to the political
stage o the RECOM process prevailed until the round table discussion closed.
A representative o an organization that
brings together young people in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, pointed out that her
organization strongly supported the
establishment o RECOM.
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A representative o a non-governmental organization rom Macedonia said that RECOM was
necessary or Macedonia, and that he saw no other way or Macedonia to deal with its past
and with the victims. Members o the Coalition or RECOM inormed the Commissioner that
a team o public advocates or RECOM has been established, and that recently a meeting was
held to map uture activities, which marked the beginning o a new phase o the campaign or
RECOM. Te Commissioner said he was pleased to hear that there was still work ongoing on
the establishment o RECOM and announced that he would use his orthcoming meetings
with representatives o regional governments to seek their support or RECOM. Indeed, the
Commissioner reiterated this decision at a press conerence held a day later in Sarajevo.
Jelena Gruji
WHAT OTHERS SAID
A new phenomenon in Macedonia urban violence committed on ethnic grounds has
overshadowed the question o dealing with the past.
A decade ater the armed conict o 2001, which although a consequence o regional
circumstances, broke out primarily because o the countrys internal weaknesses and the
inefciency o its institutional mechanisms or early warning and prevention, the Macedonian
government has once again responded lightly and casually to the incidents o ethnic violence
that have recently ared up. Te authorities were at rst passive, and then responded
inappropriately to the escalation o tension. Such institutional behavior and the consequences
arising rom it, are not in harmony with the concept o a supposedly successul completion o
!The battleor sustainable
peaceis yetto come
Oliver Stanoeski
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the peace-building process ollowing the signing o
the Framework (Ohrid) Agreement.
Unlike the events o the past, a new phenomenon
marks the recent incidents: urban violence
committed on ethnic grounds. Why urban? Simplybecause organized acts o violence have never
beore occurred in large Macedonian cities (Skopje,
etovo, Prilep), or on the buses, in parks, squares,
etc. Particularly worrisome is that the participants
in this spiral o violence are young people, who
openly express their rustrations in a way that is not
characteristic o any democratic society.
A retrospective look at recent incidents reveals the context and dynamics that led to the
current situation. Te nationalist chanting o Macedonian sports ans at the European
Handball Championship in Serbia was only the trigger. Macedonian ags were burned in
Kosovo and in Macedonia. At a sports match in Kosovo a banner with a slogan oensive to
the Macedonian state and nation was displayed. Te Vevcanski carnival ollowed, at which
a number o masks and perormances were interpreted as oensive to Muslims, which led
to mass protests in Struga. Immediately ater the carnival, both churches and mosques were
torched and desecrated. Te latest incident was in Gostivar, on February 28, in which an o-
duty police ofcer entered into argument
about parking places with a group o
people, and ater a physical ght, he killed
two attackers with his ofcial gun, in the
presence o his ten-year-old daughter,.
Tis tragic act immediately acquired an ethnic dimension: the killer was a Macedonian, and
the two men killed, ethnic Albanians. Tis was ollowed by street protests, under the slogan
Macedonian Police Kill Albanians Because o Teir Ethnic Origin. When the spiral o violence
reached the cities, urban violence had reached the point when even underage girls and older
men had become victims.
Te initial reaction rom state institutions was initially ineectual but when it became clear
that the situation was on the brink o a much broader escalation, necessary measures weretaken to prevent urther tension. Police were deployed at critical locations (on buses, in
schools, parks, etc.), and a ban on mass gatherings was imposed (especially in connection with
sports matches). Measures to identiy and arrest the participants in such incidents were also
introduced. All political parties have condemned the violence. However, there have been some
who have tried to prot politically, although others have responded with an appeal to rerain
rom using these events or political ends. Te situation eventually calmed down, but tensions
are still in the air.
Additionally disturbing is that an
atmosphere unavorable to the RECOM
Initiative has been created in Macedonia.
Photo: http://www.topix.com
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What is additionally disturbing is that an atmosphere unavorable to the RECOM Initiative
has been created. Questions o dialogue and tolerance, especially among young people, have
entirely overshadowed those o dealing with the past. It seems that the coexistence is unstable,
and that the apparent peace may again be broken.
Despite everything, the civic initiative March in the Name o Peace is an encouraging sign. Itis aimed at bringing together a mass gathering o people rom all ethnic groups, and is designed
to send a message to all parties that the majority o citizens are against violence and want to live
in peace and understanding. Tis is a good sign or Macedonia.
Oliver Stanoeski
Te author is a lecturer at the Institute for Security, Defense and Peace, at the Faculty of
Philosophy, Skopje, Macedonia
Croatian institutions lack transparency in providing the public with inormation related to
transitional justice. Tis was the conclusion o research into the state o transitional justice in
Croatia
Croatian institutions are insufciently transparent in providing the public with inormation
related to transitional justice. Tis was the conclusion o research into the state o transitional
justice in Croatia.
Research into, and evaluation o, the work o Croatian institutions has shown that the Croatian
State Attorneys Ofce (DORH) is an institution which proessionally communicates with the
public and provides a relatively high quality o service. Te State Attorney responded in less
!Croatia:Inormation
rom institutions
is unclear orunavailable
Photo: http://www.biznis.ba
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than 48 hours to a complex statistical inquiry. Te response was however incomplete because
the State Attorneys Ofce does not keep specic statistics. DORH is one o the ew institutions
which has a database on its website. Te database, unortunately, is not a very useul tool or
the study o progress in the process o war crimes prosecution. Te inormation contained in
DORHs internet database is not suitable or a comparative analysis over a longer period o
time, nor does it contain all the data on all elements o the process and these are the criteria
against which the actual progress o the judicial system in Croatia in assessed.
Te Witness Protection Department does not provide access to data on the capacities o the
Department, because that inormation is classied as condential, and publication would constitute
a violation o the Law on Witness Protection. However, the head o the Department presented
all o the data at a meeting o the Council o Europes Sub-Committee or the Fight against
errorism, where he spoke on the capacities o the Croatian Witness Protection Department. In its
communications with the public, the Department was rather unwilling and slow.
Te Ministry o Justice (MP) does not have high
standards in its communication with the public. Te
Ministry says it does not have any statistics concerning
war crimes trials, although it is clear that as an institution
responsible or coordinating the judicial system, it must
have this kind o inormation. For the purpose o gathering the statistics on war crimes trials or
a given period across the country, the MP advises researchers to address each individual county
court. In addition, the experience o researchers indicates that the Ministry has oten provided
incomplete and inconsistent inormation. It is impossible to obtain any kind o inormation
concerning victims where nal judgments have been handed down, although this data that
is o crucial importance and the very essence o transitional justice. On the other hand, the
Prosecution publishes this inormation in its reports.
Te principles o protection o personal inormation and public trial are not sufciently
harmonized between Croatian legislation and institutional practice. Te Prison system
administration, or example, reuses requests about the names o war crimes indictees,
even when they have had a public trial. Te war crimes courts in Croatia are insufciently
transparent. Answers like We orgot to answer the submitted inquiry, Te inquiry was
misplaced, Te ofcer working on the case in on vacation, and other similar inappropriateand unproessional responses, are very requent in communication with the courts.
Te Supreme Court has a publicly available database on its website, which is more complicated,
less clear and requires more inormation or any kind o search than the database o the
International Criminal ribunal or the Former Yugoslavia (ICY).
Te Bureau or Detained and Missing Persons should have its statistics on the number o exhumed
and identied persons ordered by the ethnicity o the deceased. Tis is not currently the case.
The Prison system administration in
Croatia reuses requests to reveal
names o war crimes indictees, even
when they have had a public trial.
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Although there has been signicant improvement in transparency and accessibility o public
inormation, perhaps because o the pressures o EU accession, the inormation on the
processes concerning transitional justice is virtually impossible to obtain without extensive,
proessional research and lengthy communication with institutions.
Sven Mileki and Mario Mai,Youth Initiative for Human Rights Croatia
Te Law on the Rights o Former Political Prisoners and Exiles in Kosovo aces huge challenges
Former political prisoners and convicts constitute a special category o victims in Kosovo. Tis
category does not apply just to the period o armed conict in Kosovo, but also to prisoners
jailed or no reason or just cause in the ormer Yugoslavia. Tis includes the participants in the
1968 and 1981 demonstrations. According to data collected bySabila Kemezi Basha, authoroAlbanian Political Prisoners in Kosovo 1945-1990 ( burgosurit Politik Shqiptar n Kosov
1945-1990 ), in the period covered by the books analysis, as many as 8,220 Kosovo Albanians
were sentenced to long prison sentences. In 1981 alone, 3,348 Kosovo Albanians were
imprisoned, charged with organizing and participating in the demonstrations. Further, based
on the data rom the same book, 1,346 Kosovo Albanians who served in the JNA, were arrested
and imprisoned or alleged political activities.
In 1997, 1998 and 1999, many Albanians were arrested and, ater the ofcial end o the conict
!Politicalprisoners inKosovo: Hugecommitmentstaken on orinjustices
Te Parliament of Kosovo
photo: Government of Kosovo
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in Kosovo (June 10, 1999), were transerred to prisons in Serbia. O the 2,150 ethnic Albanians
who were recorded as such prisoners, at least 400 were held in detention without legal grounds.
Te testimonies o ormer detainees revealed that some o them had not been questioned, nor
had any kind o indictment been issued against them. O this number, at least 35 were minors,
and were kept in custody alongside adult inmates.
o date, only nine ormer political prisoners have
been compensated or their unlawul detention. Te
Humanitarian Law Center, on behal o dozens o
political prisoners rom the period o 1998-1999, sued
the Republic o Serbia, seeking reparations or illegal
detention. Te vast majority o charges were rejected
on the basis o the statute o limitation.
For all these reasons, the Association o ormer political prisoners in Kosovo has been
advocating or many years or a legislationto be passed which would allow political prisoners to
receive compensation.
On October 28, 2010, the Parliament o Kosovo adopted the Law on the Rights o Former
Political Prisoners and Exiles. Te law came into eect on December 25, 2010 ollowing its
publication in the Ofcial Gazette o the Republic o Kosovo.
According to Section 3, the ollowing categories are covered by this Law: ormer political
convicts, ormer political prisoners, and ormer political exiles. Te law stipulates the right to
compensation, the right to pension and disability insurance, and other related benets, such as
employment benets, obtaining scholarships and so on.
Te Law provides or the establishment o a Government Commission on the rights o ormer
political prisoners and exiles. Te Commission was established in February 2012. Former
political prisoners and detainees have high expectations rom this law, especially with regard
to the right to compensation. Article 7, paragraph 3 o the law, stipulates that compensation
or each day spent in prison be paid to unlaully convicted persons. Te application o these
provisions will be very complicated because o the period covered by the Law, which begins on
March 1, 1913. Te rst obstacle is that the Commission is unlikely to be able to register and
keep records o all persons who were imprisoned since 1913, and it will be even more difcultto prove that these people reallywere political prisoners. Obtaining the unds or nancial
compensation will pose another signicant problem, given the number o political prisoners
and detainees in the period covered by this Law.
Bekim Blakaj,Executive Director of the Humanitarian Law Center, Kosovo, and political
prisoner 1999-2000
According to data collected by
Sabila Kemezi Basha, between 1945
and 1990 as many as 8,220 Kosovo
Albanians were sentenced to long
prison sentences.
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Monument to Victims and Deenders o the Homeland in Belgradecaused numerous
controversies in Serbia
On March 24 in Savski Square in Belgrade, a monument dedicated, as the marble plaque indi-
cates, to the victims o the war and homeland deenders 1990-1999, was ofcially unveiled. Te
city authorities meant the monument to mark the thirteenth anniversary o the NAO inter-
vention in the Federal Republic o Yugoslavia. During the ceremony, however, victims amilies
prevented Belgrade Mayor, Dragan Djilas and representatives o the Army and the Serbian
Ministry o the Interior rom laying wreaths and unveiling the plaque, an incident that most
local electronic media and broadcast media did not report. In the painul event on the square,
which is in act an unnished memorial park near the Belgrade railway station, dozens o
members o the public, amily members o victims and reugees rom associations o reugees,
shouted in protest at Mayor Djilas, asking about where the names o the victims were and why
the monument was being unveiled in the midst o the election campaign. Te media reported
that some people responded indignantly to the protest, emphasizing that the public had waited
or this kind o monument or twenty years. Te delegations laid wreaths at the monument at
the spot designated or a ountain, and Djilas told the reporters that this was a monument toall civilian victims o the wars and all those who died deending their homeland o Serbia. Tis
was also the rst mention o Serbia in the context o this monument, as previously the terms
SFR Yugoslavia and Yugoslavia had been used.
Te City o Belgrade has invested 60 million dinars in the building o the monument. According
to the Mayor, the Government o Serbia decided to construct a monument with the names
o all victims. Te city authorities began building the monument in 2007 and the ormer chie
architect o Belgrade Djordje Bobic selected the conceptual solution or Savski Square. Tis
!Traumainstead ocatharsis
Monument to Victims and Defenders
Photo: B. oni
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was part o a promise that the city authorities made to the Association o War Invalids and
Serbia, the Association o Veterans o Wars 1990-1999, and the Families o the Victims and
Injured during the Aggression (NOPNU), which had submitted an initiative calling or such a
monument in 2002.
In early March the City Council Vice President, Zoran Alimpic, a member o the ruling Democratic
Party, sparked strong reactions when, in an interview with the Radio Free Europe he was asked
whether the monument would be dedicated to those who had destroyed Vukovar, Dubrovnik, and
who bombed Sarajevo. Alimpic said: It is a monument to deenders, people who were invited to
deend their country, who went and gave their lives or it. Tey deserve a monument. O course,
there were casualties in the war. All monuments in the world dedicated to soldiers are in some way
the monuments to those who killed, who shot. Well, that goes without saying. Everyone who goes
there to light a candle or lay a wreath will understand it in their own way.
Attempts to get the views o the Socialist Party o Serbiaand the Serbian Progressive Party were unsuccessul,
despite assurances rom party headquarters that their
representatives would give statements to the !Voice.
Associations o victims, in turn, have their own perspective.
Natasa Scepanovic rom the Association o Kosmet Victims believes that the monument
should be dedicated to Serbian victims and be placed in the Serbian capital, because during the
wars, Kosovo was an integral part o Serbia. Honestly, I have no objection to the monument
being dedicated to others as well, but I think that monuments and memorial centers dedicated
to those killed in the ormer Yugoslavia, in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, have already
been erected, Natasha Scepanovic told !Voice.
Milica omic, an artist rom the Monument Group, which arose rom an idea to mark the
suering, and name the victims and perpetrators o crimes, reminds the public that the idea
and the competition or the monument rst appeared in 2002, when we all believed that the
events o October 2000 signalled a progressive change. Instead o its becoming part o the
public discourse, the idea was removed rom the agenda and oered instead to war veterans,
invalids and associations o victims amilies, who, although they were unairly grouped
together, belong to the majority o Serbia. A monument was oered to them which was meant
to compensate or their loss and to include them in a project which was doomed rom the very
beginning, Milica omic told !Voice.
Among the rst who publicly opposed the ofcial stance was the Youth Initiative or Human
Rights (YIHR). Director o YIHR Maja Micic told !Voice that it was highly suspicious that the
victims were grouped together and celebrated not just alongside the soldiers who died on the
battleelds but also with those who had started the conicts. Once again the victims will be
degraded because someone is scoring political points. Tis act clearly shows the relationship o
the Serbian authorities to the wars o the 1990s, says Maja Micic.
Maja Micic: It is highly suspiciousthat the victims are grouped and
celebrated alongside those who had
started the conicts.
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Te Women in Black led an inormal coalition o NGOs, which one day beore the scheduled
unveiling o the monument, staged a peaceul protest in ront o City Hall. Te monument,
according to this peace group, deeply oends the victims and citizens o Serbia who
consistently opposed the war rom the very beginning o the conicts and the realization o
Serbias criminal project.
Te ormer regime produced the wars and death in our name and with our money, and
now, just like then, we say we reuse it they cannot erect monuments to the deenders o
the homeland with our money. Who are the victims or whom this monument is created:
those who destroyed the city o Vukovar, those who shelled Sarajevo, those who killed in
Srebrenica...? Is the monument dedicated to the young men who deserted, hal a million o
them rom Serbia, to whom we bow and call or a monument be dedicated to them! said Stasa
Zajovic, coordinator o the Women in Black.
On the rst business day ater the ailed unveiling, the memorial park began to serve itsintended purpose: citizens waiting or buses were sitting on benches, pensioners read
newspapers, the wreaths were removed rom the place intended or the ountain, and a rare
passer-by walked on loose concrete slabs, approached the marble to decipher the small letters
o the printed dedication. Tere were no traces o the recent ceremony.
Bojan oni
WHAT OTHERS SAID
Te European Union organised a study tour rom 28 February to 2 March 2012, entitled Te
Contribution o Civil Society to Justice and Reconciliation in the Western Balkans, or civil
!European Union,Transitional Justice
and Civil Societyin the WesternBalkans: Shits
in Policy andDebate
Restorative justice mechanisms
are now being taken as seriously as
trials.
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Te tour was organised by the People 2 People Programme, whose aim is to allow CSOs to
expand their knowledge about the EU and the accession process through visits to European
institutions, meetings with European civil society organisations and the opportunity to network
internationally and regionally. Tis particular visit was geared towards introducing andamiliarising civil society representatives rom the Western Balkans, with the EUs policies and
programmes related to justice and reconciliation, and acilitating contact with their European
counterparts working in the same eld. Te tour also included the visit to the International
Criminal ribunal or the ormer Yugoslavia (ICY) at Te Hague.
Beyond its immediate aims, the study tour addressed broader developments in EU policy
towards justice and reconciliation in the Western Balkans. For years, the EU has been
criticised by civil society representatives and academics, rom the region and rom abroad,
or its narrow top-down approach to transitional justice, almost exclusively ocused on the
ICY conditionality. Tey have also pointed to the EUs technocratic approach to justiceand reconciliation. Fulllment o the ICY conditionality was equated with extraditions o
suspected war criminals. Paradoxically, this also emerged as one o the obstacles to transitional
justice, as it allowed local elites to consider justice being done rather than using the extraditions
to start discussions about culpability and accountability.
Te engagement with CSOs working in the eld o justice and reconciliation in the Western
Balkans signals a long-awaited change in the EUs policies. It was certainly prompted by the
planned closure o the ICY. However, the act that the EU now looks beyond local war crimes
Hague tribuna
Photo: archive of FHP Kosovo
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trials in the Western Balkans, itsel a critical part o its agenda o reorm o judiciaries and
strenthening o the rule o law, suggests that the EU has accepted civil society in the region as
a transitional justice actor in its own right. Tis change in EU strategy is mirrorred by a shit
in the transitional justice debate in the Western Balkans, as was clearly demonstrated in the
opening session o the study tour.
In a dialogue with EU ofcials, the discussion about justice and reconciliation led by civil
society representatives ocused on local war crimes trials as well as on RECOM. Te absence
o discussion o the ICY and its impact was striking. But, this silence on the ICY also
illustrates the degree o internalisation o the transitional justice debate in the region, that
was initially introduced externally through the work o the ICY. As such, it will stand as a
long lasting and uncontested legacy o the ICY, despite critiques that it has not managed to
demonstrate eectively that justice has been done through this particular transitional justice
mechanism. Te discussion ocused on RECOM, highlighted a range o views concerning
this regional initiative, the dilemma between the primacy o national, versus transnational
approaches to justice and reconciliation, being one o the key issues. Nonetheless, RECOM
has become one othe reerences in the discussion on transitional justice in the Western
Balkans. It demonstrates another shit in the debate: restorative justice mechanisms are now
being taken as seriously as trials and a regional dimension has now become an integral part
o the debate. Te lack o agreement on these issues, as illustrated by the diversity o views
presented by civil society representatives, underscores an important deliberative value o the
debate on accountability or past wrongs. Tis debate is set to keep the issues o justice and
reconciliation on the agenda in the countries o the Western Balkans or a long time to come.
Te EUs recognition o the contribution by civil society to justice and reconciliation is a start
that needs to be ollowed up by urther collaboration with local CSOs within the ramework othe common goal o the Europeanisation o the region.
Dr Denisa Kostovicova
Te author is Senior Lecturer in Global Politics at Government Department, London School of
Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom
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INTERVIEW
Dr Nevenka roha, a senior research associate at the Slovenian Institute or Recent History,
took part in the Slovenian-Italian Historical Commission, which, despite numerous obstacles,
managed in seven years to complete a joint report on previously disputed Slovenian-Italian
relationships. Te Commission, consisting o Slovenian and Italian historians, was tasked with
establishing the historical acts o the relationship between the two nations between 1880 and
1956. We spoke with Dr roha in Ljubljana about her experiences o working with the Italian
historians, and we wanted to know how important it was to determine the acts o war crimes.
What was the task of the Commission in which you were involved?
Our commission was established in 1993, with the aim o
investigating the events that occured ater the Second World
War, namely the issue o thefoibas* and the exodus o the
Italian population, primarily rom Istra. Very quickly we came to the conclusion that it would
be necessary to expand our research, because we could not separate the acts rom their
historical context i we wanted to show the events in an objective light. So we marked 1880 as
the beginning o our investigation, the time o the rst conicts between Italians and Slovenes.
Te research ends in 1956, because that is the year when the expulsion o Italians rom
Yugoslavia was complete.
Relations between Italians and Slovenians have been very tense for years. How did you
manage to agree on and determine the historical facts with your Italian colleagues, and to
avoid the trap of politicization?
Historical acts are irreutable, that was our starting point. Te historical act is, or example,
that on April 6, 1941, an attack on Yugoslavia took place. Te historical act is that more than
1,100 Slovenians were killed in the (Italian) camp on the island Rab. It is clear that there are
!The acts
speak orthemselves
Dr Nevenka Troha: We worked
without any political pressure.
Nevenka roha
Photo: Igor Mekina
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dierent interpretations about the causes o all that occurred. Tis is why it is most important
that while acts are being determined everyone act proessionaly, as experts. Nationality and
citizenship must not be an obstacle here. I must say that I oten agree more with my Italian
counterparts, than with some Slovenian historians. Division along ethnic lines is not always a
good thing. Te same is true o Italian historians. Te work o our committee took seven years
and nally we came to some common conclusions. Te truth is that our debates were long
and sometimes it happened that my colleagues rom Italy eventually changed their position.
In Italy, or example, not much was known about the occupation o Ljubljana province. Italian
historians have had an additional problem because they did not know the Slovenian language,
while all the committee members rom Slovenia knew Italian. Tus we are able to read their
documents and papers, and they could not read Slovenian documents. oday the situation in
this area is much better, because in the meantime several papers have been published in Italy
about this disputed period o history.
Did you have to adhere to strict rules in your work?
Elio Apih must take great credit or the success o our eorts; he was also the most amous
member o our committee. Apih enjoyed a great reputation or his work and numerous
publications, and thereore all o us on the Commission highly respected his views. At the very
beginning o the Commissions work, he stressed that we must give the same name to the same
things. Tis meant that we could not write, or example, that one side killed ten hostages,
while the other side savagely killed some other victims. Apih requested that we rerain rom
strong expressions and adjectives, which can dangerously inate some events. He argued
that acts alone speak or themselves. Tis has led to a relatively accurate number o about
6,500 killed during the Italian occupation o the Ljubljana province. As or thefoibas, in whichprimarily Italians were killed, we quickly reached the conclusion that it was not a genocide. Tis
was partly due to the small number o victims, because several hundred people were killed in
them, among whom were both Italians and Slovenians. We determined the numbers o several
thousands o missing and about 7,000 others who were arrested by the Yugoslav authorities,
most o whom were later released. About 25,000 people were expelled to Italy. Some revenge
crimes were committed in Yugoslavia, although the then government was responsible or many
o them. One dispatch came to light, which the Slovenian leadership sent to rieste, which
ordered a cleansing, not on national basis, but on the basis o ascism. We tried to be precise,
because the data about victims were used as an argument or changing the boundaries.
Did you have any major problems in determining the social context of these crimes?
We made a big step there. We did not agree on all details, but in the end we agreed on joint
ormulations.
Were you deciding by voting?
We wrote conclusions ater long discussions, and these conclusions we reached by consensus.
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Each party had to prepare a report, and then we ormed subgroups made o experts. Ater
a discussion, we would manage to agree on a common, relatively short text. Had we dealt
with the whole period in more detail, would have certainly diered much more on particular
issues. In the end, we all signed every report. We were members o the commission only in our
capacity as experts and not as representatives o the state. We worked without any political
pressure.
How was your report received in Italy and in Slovenia, respectively?Te Slovenian Ministry o Foreign Aairs was satised with the report, while the Italian was
not enthusiastic because they expected more attention to have been paid to thefoibas. We
held that the length o the text also determined the weight and importance o a problem. We
couldnt, or example, write three pages about ascism, and ve about thefoibas. We respected
the rule that issues o equal weight would be treated equally not just in the choice o words
used but also by the length o the text. Tats why the entire period o war and ascism isdescribed in much more space than thefoiba crimes.
Is it important to research and write about history in a manner that is not limited by
borders?Yes, because only in that way is it possible to explore history in the rst place. Te act is
that our borders have changed so many times. ake, or example, a person who was born in
Ajdovscina in 1900: he was then a citizen o the Austrian part o Austro-Hungary. Ten he
became a citizen o Italy. Te Italian occupation ollowed, and ater it the Yugoslav conquest.
I a person lived, or example, in Sezana, he experienced the Anglo-American conquest as well.
Ten, ater 1947, that person became a citizen o the Free rieste erritory which was later
annexed by Yugoslavia, and today that person lives in the state o Slovenia. And that person
was living in the same place the entire time! Tis is why all these events must be viewed rom a
broader perspective.
What do you think about the idea that the successor states of the former Yugoslavia,
can establish the facts of the crimes and the social circumstances from which the crimes
emerged, through a regional truth commission?Tis is a very good initiative. Facts must be determined. Te act is that every human lie is
special, but on the level o the state or collective memory there is a big dierence whether
ve hundred, a thousand or ten thousand people died. It is thereore important to determine
the objective acts as much as it is possible. O course, manipulation will always happen. Our
project was nally ruitul and we reached the nal gure o about 14,000 persons who died
during the war. And now no one can claim that there were only a thousand casualties, and
likewise no one can exaggerate and claim that there were ty thousand casualties. All this
reduces the scope and chances or manipulation. Dierent opinions and other interpretations
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o history will inevitably emerge. Heres an example: this year alone about 200 works have been
published about the French Revolution. I there is only one truth, then or each event only
one book would be enough. No doubt there will always be dierent interpretations o why
something happened in history, but it is extremely important to establish accurate, indisputable
acts, in order to reduce the risk o manipulation and the stirring o passions.
Igor Mekina
* the term reers to the pits into which victims were thrown
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN THE WORLD
In November 2011, two new laws were passed in Brazil: Te Law on Public Access to
Inormation, and the Law on Establishing the National Commission or ruth. With her
signature, President Dilma Rusefopened the space or the ofcial establishment o a
commission to examine the long-ignored and long-denied truth about the crimes committed
during the time o the military junta in Brazil. Despite the act that torture, kidnapping and
murders took place in ront o the eyes o the entire Brazilian population, and despite the act
that the last three Brazilian presidents o that time were imprisoned or orced into exile, the
political elite or a long time remained silent about the demands o victims and their amilies.
!The longawaited truth
the TruthCommissionin Brazil
Marijana oma
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Unlike many o its neighbors in Latin America, Brazil had chosen to be silent about the crimes
committed during the military junta. In accordance with the 1979 Law on Amnesty, members
o the armed orces never aced any charges or crimes committed over the period o more than
twenty years (1964-1985) o the junta. In addition, the state did not allow any ofcial eorts
to establish the truth, despite eorts by human rights activists and the support o the church
in Brazil. Spurred on by this attitude, a group o activists and human rights investigators,
supported by the Archbishop o Sao Paulo and the World Council o Churches, secretly
copied huge volumes o court documentation, on the basis o which a report was compiled
and published:Brazil: Never Again. Te report documented and analyzed in detail, the torture
used by the military junta as a method against the let and other political enemies rom 1964
until 1979. In 1995, a commission was established to oer redress to 135 amilies o the
missing persons. But despite the act that the commission had the authority to independently
investigate every case o a disappearance, urther investigations were never launched. Attempts
by victims to obtain redress and recognition using international mechanisms, such as the Inter-
American Court o Human Rights, as a rule ailed, due to the governments reusal to allowaccess to ofcial inormation.
Ater more than twenty years o silence, last November,
Brazil opened a space or a ormal review o the past. Te
ruth Commission, whose seven members should be
appointed by the end o March by President Ruse, will
have two years to meet a set o objectives: to clariy the
acts and circumstances o human rights violations; to
raise public awareness about torture, killings, disappearances, the practice o hiding o bodies,
and the instigators o these incidents; to identity all state structures, places and institutionslinked to human rights violations; to submit all o the inormation collected about locations
o mass graves to relevant institutions; to cooperate with all levels o government in the
investigation o human rights violations; to recommend new policies and measures to prevent
the recurrence o human rights violations; and nally to promote the reconstruction o history
based on the newly established acts. Te Commission was given broad powers when compared
to truth commissions in other Latin American countries. In addition to the usual powers, such
as collecting evidence, inormation and documents relevant to the mandate o the commission,
and holding public hearings o victims, the Commission will be allowed to request inormation
that it considers necessary, rom government institutions, even in cases where that inormation
may be classied as condential. Unlike almost all other Latin American commissions,
this body was given authority to summon those persons believed to possess the necessary
inormation about human rights violations, and to require the assistance o all state institutions
or its operation. Te obligation o government representatives, and particularly o the military,
to cooperate with the Commission has been especially emphasized.
Although most in Brazil have welcomed the establishment o the National Commission or
ruth, retired military generals, gathered around the Clube Militar, vehemently opposed the
Ater more than twenty years o
silence, last November, Brazil
opened a space or a ormal review
o the past.
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ounding o the Commission. In a public statement, they accused the newly established Com-
mission o a lack o objectivity and said the process was an attempt to revise history. However,
unlike the previous President o Brazil, who was pressured by the Deense Minister and army
representatives into stepping back rom plans to establish a truth commission, President Ruse
demanded that the statement be withdrawn. Her demand was met, and she received an apol-
ogy rom the countrys Deense Minister and the group o retired generals. President Ruse thus
clearly expressed her support or the truth commission. Te Presidents response to the state-
ment o those whose actions are likely to all under the scrutiny o the ruth Commission is a
clear message to all those who oppose the establishment o the body, and will be seen by uture
members o the Commission, as a sign that that they will nd the greatest support or their
work rom the very ounder o the Commission, who will not back down under pressure or in
the ace o obstructions, which certainly wont be lacking in the uture.
Marijana oma
THE VOICE OF VICTIMS
Misko Deverdzic, rom the village o Istok, Kosovo, lost his ather Rados, and, to this day
remains haunted by guilt.
Good day everyone. I am Misko Deverdzic rom Kosovo and Metohija. I was born on April
10, 1975, the son o Rados. Te war in Kosovo began in 1999. Bombing. No one knew whether
to beware o the bombing or the Albanian terrorists. Merem Metaj, Have and Daut Avdijaj,
Havas husband, all Albanians, asked my ather to take them into his house, to save their lives.
At that time I wasnt living with him. I lived in an apartment with my wie and two children.
!We lived
60 yearswith theseAlbanians. As I was leaving the ofce, I saw my
ather or the last time.
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Our third child was on the way. My ather came to my apartment and asked me to drive the
group to the village o Vrelo, and to hand them over to our police checkpoint. So I borrowed
10 German marks, bought our liters o gas, I borrowed a car rom Srdjan, the police ofcer in
Istok. He gave me the car and didnt ask any questions. We put them in the car and my ather
and I drove toward Vrelo. Tis was the rst time I went to that bloody place. Until then, or
actually until they caught me, I didnt even know it was the biggest stronghold o the KLA
terrorists. I drove and drove, and kept asking my ather: How much longer? Not too long. As
we entered the village, some armed men came out. I thought it was our police. But it was just
the opposite. Tey took me out o the car, there were 20 or 25 o them, well-armed, masked,
with KLA insignia. Bearded too... As soon as they took me out o the car, they started beating
me I still suer the consequences o it. Tey didnt beat my ather in ront o me. Tey took
us to the euta actory, some 200 meters rom the place we were caught in. Ten they ushered
us into separate ofces. Tey continued to beat me until Selman, Meremas brother came by.
I personally helped Merema build a two-story house, me and my amily, we all helped. Tey
screamed, shouted at the men to let us go, to stop beating us. But when Selman entered the
Miko Deverdiphoto: Arhiva FHP
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ofce, they stopped. Tey didnt touch me ater that. Ten interrogations began: where was
the Serbian army located; what kind o weapon do they have; what about the police. And I told
them all I knew and even what I didnt know. Tey said they would let me go rom the camp i
I went to Istok and bring more [Albanian] women and children, i there were any let, that they
would release my ather too. But there was one more condition. Tey wanted me to kill Momir
Pantic, Chie o Police in Istok. I agreed. Te interrogation was led by Naser Shatri, the then
commander o the KLA. I agreed to everything and they sent me toward Istok in the same car
in which we came. As I was leaving the ofce, I saw my ather or the last time. I stepped out o
the ofce, looked at him, and on my way out he kind o smiled a little and waved his hand, as
i he was trying to say Go now, telling me to go and bring more Shiptars, so that they would
let my ather go, because I saved their people. Naser Shatri got in the car and sat behind me.
He pointed a gun to my head and said: Kill Pantic and youll get one million marks. Ill save
your entire amily and Ill get you across the border where no one will harm you. I agreed to
everything and I set out as ast as the car would go.
I ran into a group o police ofcers about a mile rom the place they caught me. I asked them:
Where have you been? And they said: We were in the woods. Tey were roasting a pig
on a spit. Zarko Zaric, that was the police ofcer I spoke to. And he said: Go to the police
immediately. I went straight to the police station in Istok and told everything to Momir Pantic,
Chie o Police. Grujica Veljovic, his deputy, looked at me sadly. He understood my pain. But
Momir Pantic just laughed and said: Tat serves you right. I went or his gun which was on
the desk. Grujica Veljovic settled things and I went home. My wie was pregnant. She could not
recognize me. I want to know just where he is [the ather]. Te only one who knows is Selman,
Meremas brother. Killed, alright But I want to know where he is. We lived 60 years with these
Albanians. Never said a bad word to one another. Kosova Vusaj beat me when we were kids.Te third house rom mine. Tank you. And sorry.
(From the public testimony of victims, held at the Tird Regional Forum for the establishment
of the facts about war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, organized by Documenta, the
Humanitarian Law Center and the Center for Research and Documentation, on February 11-12,
2008 in Belgrade.)
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