UNS: Tomorrow marks the 28th anniversary of the abduction of Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic, we will restore the memorial plaque again

The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), together with its Kosovo and Metohija branch, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and Metohija (DNKiM), reminds that tomorrow, August 21, marks 28 years since the abduction of Radio Pristina journalists Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic on the Velika Hoca–Zociste road in the municipality of Orahovac. On this occasion, UNS will once again, for the 10th time, restore the memorial plaque at the site of their abduction, which was demolished again at the end of July.

In a statement, the Association of Journalists of Serbia recalls that on August 21, 1998, Slavuj and Perenic set out for the Monastery of the Holy Healers in Zociste to prepare a report about the return of abducted monks.

They were seen in Velika Hoca during the morning, from where they headed toward Zociste.

After traveling several kilometers, they took a wrong turn that led them to members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). From that moment, all trace of them was lost, and to this day the Perenic and Slavuj families have received no official information about their fate.

At the site of the abduction, UNS and DNKiM erected a memorial plaque, which has been demolished nine times so far. It bears the following inscription in Serbian and Albanian: “Here, on August 21, 1998, journalists disappeared. We are looking for them.”

“The plaque was last demolished at the end of July this year, and UNS, together with its branch in Kosovo and Metohija, will restore this memorial for the 10th time,” the statement said.

It also recalls that EULEX confirmed in 2017 that Perenic and Slavuj had been abducted by members of the KLA, who, after threatening them with weapons, took them in an unknown direction. It adds that, during the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, many other journalists were also abducted in Kosovo, and official information about their disappearances remains unknown to the public.

Journalist and translator Aleksandar Simovic disappeared on August 21, 1999, in Pristina. Some of his remains were found in the village of Obrinje near Glogovac.

Politika correspondent and Jedinstvo journalist Ljubomir Knezevic was abducted on May 6, 1999, near Vucitrn, at the foot of Mount Cicavica.

Photojournalist Momir Stokuca was killed on September 21, 1999, in the house where he lived in central Pristina. On September 9, 2000, journalist Marjan Melonasi, who worked for the Serbian-language newsroom of Radio Kosovo, also disappeared in the city.

Editor of Radio Television Pristina Krist Gegaj was killed in Istok in September 1999, three months after the arrival of international forces.

In Kosovo and Metohija, between 1999 and 2005, journalists working for the newspapers Bujku, Afrim Maliqi (1998), Informator of the Kosovo Information Center, Enver Maloku (1999), Rilinda, Sefki Popova (2000), and Bota Sot, Xhemail Mustafa (2000), Bekim Kastrati (2001), and Bardul Ajeti (2005), were killed.

It is known that Bardul Ajeti was killed from a moving vehicle near the village of Bresalce.

“Investigations into the missing and murdered were initially conducted by UNMIK and subsequently by EULEX, which confirmed that KLA members had abducted Perenic and Slavuj. Responsibility for shedding light on these crimes now lies with Kosovo institutions,” UNS said.

In May 2024, a Resolution on Murdered and Missing Journalists in Kosovo between 1998 and 2005, proposed by UNS, was unanimously adopted at the Annual Assembly of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) in Pristina.

According to the statement, through this Resolution, the EFJ Assembly calls on the federation's Executive Committee to request that UNMIK, EULEX, and the authorities in Kosovo establish an international expert commission to assist in investigating the murders, kidnappings, and disappearances of 19 journalists and media workers in Kosovo between 1998 and 2005.

It states that the EFJ Assembly calls for judges and prosecutors from Belgrade and Pristina to participate as experts in the work of the international commission investigating the murders, kidnappings, and disappearances of journalists and media workers in Kosovo between 1998 and 2005, along with representatives of the international missions responsible for the rule of law in Kosovo during that period, UNMIK and EULEX, as well as representatives of UNS and the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK).

The Resolution also calls on the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, based in The Hague, to open investigations into murdered and missing journalists and media workers in Kosovo between 1998 and 2005.

It also calls on the United Nations to implement the findings of the United Nations Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP), which established violations of the European Convention on Human Rights in UNMIK's work and the need to provide compensation to the victims' families.

According to the Resolution, the EU Council should determine whether EULEX violated the European Convention on Human Rights.

“The EFJ Assembly calls on the EU, which has undertaken obligations to act in accordance with international resolutions, to fully respect this Resolution and contribute to investigations into murdered and missing journalists and media workers in Kosovo, as well as to inform the IFJ, EFJ, and the public about the steps taken,” the statement adds.

The Resolution calls on the EFJ Executive Committee, in cooperation with other organizations and associations, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, and the OSCE, as well as other international bodies, to regularly monitor investigations into these murders, kidnappings, and disappearances and inform the public about them.