Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Fate of the abducted Serbian journalists still unknown; covering up KLA crimes should be stopped

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija reminded that on this day in 1998, Radio Pristina journalists Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic were abducted on the Velika Hoca–Zociste road, and that their fate remains unresolved to this day, despite years of efforts by their families, the Republic of Serbia, and Serbian journalists’ associations.

“During the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija, journalists, as objective witnesses of a tragic time, were frequent targets of the terrorist ‘KLA,’ whose goal was, at any cost and by the most brutal means, to prevent the truth about the crimes of Albanian separatists from reaching both domestic and international audiences,” the Office stated.

They added that the fact that the memorial plaque placed by the Association of Journalists of Serbia in memory of the abducted colleagues has been vandalized and desecrated multiple times testifies to the absence in Kosovo of a social climate for confronting the past and shedding light on the numerous crimes committed against Serbian civilians.

“Today, in Kosovo and Metohija, Pristina does not honor the innocent victims but rather their executioners. This value system and ideological framework have been consistently followed by all political organizations in Pristina over the past two and a half decades in order to turn criminals into heroes,” the statement reads.

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija demanded an end to the cover-up of crimes.

“We use this sad anniversary as an occasion to once again most resolutely demand that, in the name of truth and humanity, an end be put to the systematic campaign of covering up crimes, because the families of the victims have the inalienable right to know the fate of their loved ones, and truth is also the condition for finally ending the various mystifications about the terrorist ‘KLA’ and its criminal methods,” the statement concluded.