President of Missing Persons Commission: Pristina is trying to pardon crimes committed against Serbs

Photo: Tanjug/Jadranka Ilic

The president of the Missing Persons Commission, Veljko Odalovic, says that the adoption of a so-called resolution "on protection of historical truth and dignity of war victims" represents an attempt by Pristina to grant amnesty to all those who committed crimes against Serbs.

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Odalovic told RTS that it was an attempt to impose "one truth" and prohibit any other view.

"This resolution absolutely only identifies what they establish and their truth and their angle. It is a ban on any other truth or mention of anything else," Odalovic said.

He believes that it is no coincidence that the assembly of the self-proclaimed state is taking such a stance at this moment, with all political parties representing Kosovo Albanians behind it.

"The initiator of this resolution is the party of Hashim Thaci, who is awaiting the (Hague) verdict against him," said Odalovic.

According to him, the resolution demands that the criminal code of self-proclaimed Kosovo be amended and that penal provisions be included against anyone who tries to in any way to explain and tell the truth about an event.

Asked how the international community is reacting to the resolution, Odalovic pointed out that a large part of the responsibility for what happened in Kosovo and Metohija lies with the international community.

Secretary of the Association of the Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Kosovo and Metohija, Olgica Bozanic, nee Kostic, who had 15 members of her family either murdered or kidnapped by the KLA ("Kosovo Liberation Army") - two of her brothers being among the victims - stressed that she will not give up the fight for the truth.

"It's important for us, as representatives of the association, to have good cooperation with the Commission of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. No one can deny that crimes against Serbs took place because we are the living, surviving members of the families who are rightly demanding answers about what happened to our loved ones," said Bozanic.

She added that it was regrettable that representatives of the provisional institutions in Pristina have never shown respect toward Serb victims.

"It's sad, and we heard that from representatives of the families of missing Albanians informally, not publicly. They weren't even allowed to speak publicly because they were under pressure," says Bozanic.

She stressed that until 2005, her family held on to the hope that her brothers would be found alive, however, in April 2005, the Volujak mass grave near Klina was opened, where the remains of her brothers and other victims were destroyed with explosives.

"Then we waited for a year and a half for the burned and destroyed samples to be matched with the blood samples taken from our relatives. In 2006, we buried eleven members of the Kostic family, four Bozanics, in Orlovaca (cemetary). The youngest was Nemanja Bozanic, who had turned 16 on May 5, and was kidnapped on July 18 the same year along with his father, uncle, and a cousin," said Bozanic.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)