Office for Kosovo and Metohija: The crime in Livadice occurred before the eyes of the international civil and military presence in Kosovo

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the killing of 12 and the wounding of 43 Serbs in Livadice, that the crime took place before the eyes of the international civil and military presence in Kosovo, and that even a quarter of a century later no shift can be expected from the authorities in Pristina in terms of confronting the past and acknowledging that innocent people were victims of “Greater Albanian extremism and chauvinism.”

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija recalls that on this day, twenty-five years ago, an unprecedented crime occurred in the village of Livadice near Podujevo, when twelve Serbs were killed and forty-three wounded in a terrorist attack on a “Nis Ekspres” bus.

“We are still horrified by the insidious and brutal nature of this crime and by the fact that, a quarter of a century later, no one has been held accountable. The crime occurred before the eyes of the international civil and military presence in Kosovo and Metohija, and the inability of the investigative and judicial authorities at the time to shed light on this senseless act of violence and bring its organizers and perpetrators to justice understandably provokes both disbelief and outrage,” the statement reads.

They emphasize that the families of those killed in Livadice are not the only ones today crying out for justice, recalling that the list of terrorist attacks against Serbian civilians in Kosovo following the arrival of international forces is a long one, “and as a rule, those crimes have not been clarified nor has anyone been held accountable for them.”

“From the provisional authorities in Pristina, even a quarter of a century later, no change can be expected in terms of confronting the past and acknowledging that innocent people were victims of Greater Albanian extremism and chauvinism,” the Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated.

The statement adds that, at present, the social and political climate for such a step does not exist, noting that Serbs in Kosovo are still often victims of violence, “primarily institutionalized political violence, but also overt terror.”

“During and after the war conflicts in Kosovo and Metohija, many crimes were committed by Albanian extremists and terrorists of the KLA, and the failure to this day to make an explicit break with these acts of violence has deepened the interethnic divide and mistrust. These policies in Pristina are more alive than ever,” the statement says, adding:

“In the hope that in the time ahead the perpetrators will face appropriate sanctions and that the families of the victims will receive the long-awaited justice, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija will continue to point to all Serbian suffering, unresolved crimes, and ethnically motivated incidents, and will persistently demand a resolution of all these cases so that justice may be served.”