Petkovic: The massacre in Staro Gracko is one of the most serious crimes; Pristina is protecting terrorists with a conspiracy of silence

Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, reminded that today 24 years since the massacre of fourteen Serb harvesters in the village of Staro Gracko, not far from Lipjan was marked.

"It is one of the heaviest crimes committed against the Serbs in the province after the arrival of international missions to Kosovo and Metohija. The perpetrators of this monstrous murder of innocent Serbs have not been held accountable for their crime to this day, while the authorities in Pristina are holding dozens of innocent Serbs in casemates under false charges. The responsibility for the fact that the killers from Staro Gracko have not been brought to justice yet is borne by the representatives of the temporary institutions of self-government in Pristina, who conspired to keep silent about this and many other crimes committed against the Serbs in the province, are actually protecting terrorists and criminals," Petkovic emphasized in the press release.

As he added, responsibility was also borne by the representatives of the international missions in Kosovo, primarily EULEX, which had given up the investigation under the scandalous excuse of lack of evidence.

"We remind you that the criminals repeatedly mined and desecrated the cemetery where the martyred harvesters were buried, as well as the memorial plaque with the names of the victims, displayed on the building of the Elementary School in the center of the village. Today, we want to emphasize once again that the international community is not only morally responsible for allowing the crimes against the Serbs that happened before its eyes to be covered up and forgotten, and lasting peace in Kosovo and Metohija cannot be built on the denial of crimes and the need for the guilty to be punished," Petkovic pointed out.

However, as he added, Serbia and the Serbs would never give up insisting on the truth about the suffering of their compatriots.

"But also the truth about the real, criminal character of what many political representatives of the Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija describe as a struggle for freedom. When we get to that truth, we will be able to build trust and normalize relations between the Serbs and the Albanians in our southern province," Petkovic said.

Petkovic also recalled that on July 23, 1999, in Staro Gracko, fourteen Serbs were killed at close range in a field. The victims were: Milovan Jovanovic (1969), Jovica Zivic (1970), Radovan Zivic (1967), Andrija Odalovic (1967), Slobodan Janicijevic (1965), Mile Janicijevic (1957), Novica Janicijevic (1981), Momcilo Janicijevic (1946), Stanimir Dekic (1955), Bozidar Dekic (1947), Sasa Cvejic (1973), Ljubisa Cvejic (1939), Nikola Stojanovic (1936) and Miodrag Tepsic (1951).

"The youngest among them, Novica Janicijevic, was only seventeen years old. May their memory be eternal," Petkovic said.