Olgica Bozanic on the trial of the KLA leaders of the: May justice be served to them and the moans and cries of their victims follow them for the rest of their lives

Will there finally be justice for the KLA victims? The trial of former commanders in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity begins on Monday, and recently the names of 102 victims of KLA leaders Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi were made public for the first time.

On the other hand, as stated by the Association of Families of Missing and Kidnapped Persons in Kosovo, there were more than 1,000 names on their list, of which almost 600 were still missing.

Kostici is among the names of KLA victims. The tragedy of this family is well known; as many as 15 members of the family Kostic were kidnapped and killed in 1998 by the KLA. Olgica Bozanic, nee Kostic, in front of the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Kosovo and Metohija, says that families are looking for only two things - truth and justice.

"All of our families, since the tragedy happened that they were left without their members who were abducted by members of the KLA, are looking for the truth first of all. That is our priority, and then justice. Now the moment has come for a newly established court, and we as an association cooperated with all the courts and prosecutor's offices in the previous period. Now they have brought a new indictment against the KLA leaders and others. We expect the prosecutors and judges to be impartial, and to bring justice for our victims, because in the past years, unfortunately, no one was convicted for our victims. Processes were led before the former international tribunal, but at that time there was a time limit until the arrival of KFOR, and unfortunately we have the largest number of reported cases after the arrival of international forces, and for that type of crime an indictment was brought for the first time, just like for the period in 1998," Olgica says for Kosovo Online.

Olgica Bozanic was in Orahovac when the KLA invaded on July 17, 1998, and only on July 21 did the Serbian forces manage to evacuate the civilians.

"The KLA then attacked all Serbian households in Retimlje and Opterusa, villages near Orahovac. My uncle Andjelko Kostic was the first to be killed, and four members of the family Bozanic were kidnapped, the youngest of whom was Nemanja, who turned 16 on May 5. All Serbs were kidnapped and transferred to private camps and prisons. At that time there were representatives of the International Red Cross on the ground and when on July 21 a group of civilians with monks in that group of 35 people were freed, there were my mother and grandmother, aunts and uncles. I gathered information from them about what happened, they had confidence in me and the role fell to me to be the person who would record it all. Out of love for my brothers Lazar and Todor, I am still active in this Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons people in Kosovo and Metohija, I do everything I can, I follow all the situations that are happening," Olgica says.

When asked if she was contacted by the Special Court, our interlocutor says that they were contacted as an Association.

"There are forms that families fill out and send to specialized judicial panels to obtain victim status, but unfortunately, some families received a negative response. A few weeks ago, a list of victims was published, including my family Kostic and Bozanic. The indictment shows that the accused from the KLA are accused of torture, abuse, expulsion, murder, and worst of all, the remains were blown up with explosives to hide the traces of the crime, very few samples could be identified for DNA analysis. It was difficult for us to bear the information, we experienced strong traumas. My mother watched as her two sons were put into the truck, those aunts has two sons each, and then in the Kostic family we have Dimitrije with two sons - Sasko and Jugoslav. Jugoslav was the first to be kidnapped; his parents, who have since passed away, did not want to donate blood for DNA, they could not come to terms with the fact that they were left without both sons," she added.

Bozanic hopes that this time, unlike previous tribunals, the Special Court in the Hague will also call witnesses to Serbian suffering.

"I am not an eyewitness, my mother, who is 85 years old, gave statements when the prosecutor was Clint Williamson. After Dick Marty's report, statements were collected from the families. I hope that they will use her statement; that she will be present to confirm that her sons were kidnapped and that the crime took place. The first Hague did not call her to testify, none of our witnesses were called during the trial," she stressed.

Demonstrations in support of former KLA commanders will be held in Pristina on Sunday.

"It's normal for us, we lived there, we know. They have huge support from international representatives; they will try to justify those crimes. I don't think there is any international law anywhere in the world that allows civilians to be mistreated for no reason, expelled from their homes...It's hard for me to say, but some of our martyrs were used in the organ trade. Dick Marty's report mentions some names that are on our list. They were captured alive, and taken to Albania. Recently a movie called "The Yellow House," was aired; the families from our Association spoke in it. The problem is that whenever we have meetings and conferences, we do not have confirmation when they will check the locations where the bodies were buried after the organ removal. No one has checked the terrain in Albania, although there are satellite images. Our prosecutor's office tried to contact the Ministry of Justice of Albania, but we did not receive confirmation that those locations were searched. If the remains were found, it would leave room for additional indictments to be filed. Thus, there are 101 names on the indictment, although we have more than 1,000 Serbs on the list, and more than 500 of them are still missing. The indictment also contains the names of people who were not buried; their families did not receive any remains. Maybe the prosecution has some evidence that is not available to us," Bozanic pointed out.

And in the end, Olgica Bozanic reveals that she is afraid of just one more thing.

"As a sister, I am only afraid that they will publish some video of the liquidation, how they were abused, how brother after brother wailed, father after son, and son after father. I survived all of the latter, but I don't know how I would bear it. How my brain and body would put up with that. May only those who ordered and participated in the crimes be brought to justice, while they are alive, may they be followed by their moans and cries for help," Olgica concludes.