Office for Kosovo and Metohija on the 25 years since the abduction of Slavuj and Perenic: Families are still waiting for justice

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija of the Government of Serbia has announced that today marked 25 years since the abduction of Radio Pristina journalists Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic on the Orahovac-Velika Hoca road, where they had been on an assignment to report about the abducted monks from the Saint Healers Monastery in Zociste. The abductors of the two journalists remain unidentified and unpunished to this day.

According to the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, the families of the abducted journalists, colleagues, and the entire public have waited for truth and justice for 25 years. This, they state, adds another stain to the reputation of those who are called to uphold justice and the rule of law in the province.

"Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic were abducted because they were doing their job, but more importantly because they were Serbs. Their abduction was intended to show the remaining Serbs in Orahovac, as well as throughout Kosovo and Metohija, what fate awaits the Serbian people in the province," the Office for Kosovo and Metohija states.

They also recall that the memorial plaque placed on the Orahovac-Velika Hoca road, where Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic were last seen, has been destroyed eight times.

"Today is an opportunity to remind that other abductions and killings of journalists in Kosovo and Metohija have not been solved either: Ljubomir Knezevic, a journalist of Pristina's Jedinstvo and correspondent of Politika, was abducted on May 6, 1999, near Vucitrn; Aleksandar Simovic, a journalist and translator, disappeared on August 21, 1999, in Pristina; Marjan Melonasi, a journalist of the Serbian editorial office of Radio Kosovo, disappeared on September 9, 2000, in Pristina; Momir Stokuca, a photojournalist, was killed on September 21, 1999, in his family home in central Pristina; Mile Buljevic, a security worker at Television Pristina, was kidnapped in June 1999 in front of the Refugee Center in Pristina," the statement reads.

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija once again calls on EULEX and all relevant international and local institutions to reopen the investigation, find, and prosecute the perpetrators of this crime, as well as those responsible for other unsolved crimes against journalists and the Serbian people in Kosovo.

"Unfortunately, journalists reporting in the Serbian language in Kosovo and Metohija still face numerous challenges in their work, threats, and obstructions from the authorities in Pristina, as well as bans on practicing their profession in the province. We expect that international institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, in line with their mandate, provide protection to journalists and ensure their safety and civilized working conditions," the Office for Kosovo and Metohija emphasizes.

They add that the Office will continue to engage with all centers of influence in Kosovo to seek clarification of this and all other crimes and to highlight the difficult situation of the Serbian people.