Gordana Ristic: I have been waiting for more than 20 years for my son's remains to be returned so that I can bury him

Belgrade and Pristina should soon adopt the Declaration on the Missing Persons. Unfortunately, the fate of another 1,621 people is still unknown, the remains have not yet been found, among them are Albanians, Serbs, Roma people, and many others.

At this moment, the stories of Serbian families, who are still searching for their loved ones, remain in limbo, their request that the international institutions and the Kosovo authorities finally commit to finding the remains and their loved ones is met with a wall of silence. Of the total number of missing persons in Kosovo - 588 are non-Albanians (mostly Serbs).

Sladjana Remistar tells for Kosovo Online the story of her husband Nenad, who was kidnapped on June 13, 1998.

"We lived in the village of Bica, municipality of Klina. He went to work that day and was kidnapped on the Klina-Djakovica road. He was a traffic policeman," Sladjana begins her story and continues.

"I was contacted by the Special Court, they visited me in September of last year to take a statement. They told me that there was a possibility that they would call me to testify. Even today it is difficult for me to talk about it, I was then left with a four months old baby, my son is 25 years old, and I also have two granddaughters, but I will have a scar on my heart as long as I'm alive," our interlocutor says.

As for the trial of KLA leaders before the Special Court in The Hague, she only says that everyone should be held accountable for what they have done.

"Unfortunately, it cannot bring back our loved ones," Sladjana says.

On June 22, 1999, Gordana Ristic's son Davor, who had turned 28 the day before, was kidnapped.

"He went to Pristina from Kosovo Field and was kidnapped on the way. I don't know what happened to him, there were all kinds of rumors that he was taken to Llapushnik, Prizren... Until today, I didn't find out the truth. At least his remains should be returned to me to bury him. I also gave money to a mediator and offered a house if my son was returned. One young man was thus returned from Kosovo Field to his parents, who also gave money, but unlike me, they also had good connections. Inspectors from UNMIK also came to me while I was in the Kosovo Field, but nothing. Now I also received a letter from the Special Court in which I was rejected, the case of my son will not be included in the trial of Thaci and others because he was kidnapped on June 22, 1999. As it was explained to me, there was group A and group B for the trial, and my son does not belong to that group where Thaci and the others are," Gordana says in a heavy voice.

On this occasion, she referred to the recent meeting she had had with the head of the Kosovo Commission for Missing Persons, Andin Hoti.

"He told us that they had information about the locations where the remains of our loved ones could be, but that without Kurti's approval, they could not reveal those locations or start a search," Gordana says.