Ugrenovic: We no longer hope for justice, we trust only in God

Djordje Ugrenovic, the oldest victim of the crime at Bistrica in 2003, tells Kosovo Online that the images of horror from that August 13th remain with all the survivors to this day and that none of them have any hope left that the killers of the Serbian children will ever be found.

"It has stayed with us even today. That feeling and that image. It simply cannot be forgotten. I was 20 years old at the time. Now, 21 years have passed, and to this day, the killers of that heinous crime have not been found. The case is closed. We no longer hope that those criminals will be found. We trust only in God," Ugrenovic says.

He says that the event "changed everything in Gorazdevac."

"From that moment, everything changed in Gorazdevac. Many young people started to move away. Until then, we had a lot of young people, maybe even 500 under the age of 30. A large number left, and now there may be only about a hundred young people left here. No more. Many left to find work, got married, bought houses... Everyone went their own way," says Ugrenovic, who does not plan to leave Gorazdevac.

He got married there and has four children.

"I am very attached to this place, and I really wouldn't want to leave Gorazdevac," he emphasizes.

He remembers almost every detail from 21 years ago.

"On that fateful day, August 13th, 2003, it happened. I don't even know what to call it, a heinous crime that seemed like it wasn't done by a human but by some inhuman being. They dared to shoot at unarmed children, at little children, without weapons, without anything...," Ugrenovic recalls.

He explains that the youth from Gorazdevac, which at that time was an enclave from which they rarely went out, would go to the Bistrica River every day to cool off from the summer heat.

That day, there were about a hundred children at the river. Then, around 1:30 p.m., gunshots, bursts of fire, were heard...

"No one expected that something like this could happen. Suddenly, shots were heard from a nearby bush. Bursts of fire. Three bursts were fired at us. I fell on the spot. My friend Ivan (Jovovic) was right next to me, and he also fell. Unfortunately, he couldn't survive, it was a fatal hit for him. On the other side of Bistrica... little Panto (Pantelija Dakic), Bogdan (Bukumiric)... At that moment, we didn’t know what was happening. Simply, we were very afraid," Ugrenovic recalls.

Today, 21 years later, he has no doubts about who is most responsible.

"To a large extent, the international community, no one else, because they were responsible for our safety at that moment. They are currently the biggest culprits when it comes to that crime. Of course, after those who fired at the children," he emphasizes.

Since last year, a small soccer tournament called "In Memory of Ivan and Panto" has been held in Gorazdevac in honor of the two young men who were killed.

Ugrenovic says that the main message of the tournament is that the victims from Bistrica should not be forgotten.

"The main message is that our victims should not be forgotten, the innocent victims who died at the hands of terrorists. We will make sure this continues as long as we are here, and we will support this tournament. I would also like to invite everyone who wishes to come in the future and pay their respects to our victims, Ivan and Panta," Ugrenovic says.