In the region of former Yugoslavia, many years after the wars, no light has been shed yet on the fate of 11,175 persons, 4,022, i.e. one third of whom are Serbs, it was emphasized at a press conference of the Coordination of Serbian Associations of the Families of Persons Missing or Killed in Wars in former Yugoslavia. Almost no one is searching for the perpetrators any more and no trials are held in Kosovo for crimes committed against Serbs, whereas trials for the war crimes committed against Serbs in Croatia are such that they additionally traumatize the victims, it is emphasized in the Coordination on the occasion of August 30. International Day of the Missing. More by Suzana Mitić.
The Republic of Serbia has a highly responsible attitude when it comes to the fate of the missing, regardless of their origin, said the president of the Serbian government’s Commission for Missing Persons, Veljko Odalović, adding that, from 2012 to 2013, light was shed on the fate of 705 and, in the past year, of 671 missing persons. At Rudnica site near Raška, and intensive search has been conducted and in the next ten days, all the work will be completed and light will be sheld on the fate of some 50 ethnic Albanians, he says.
However, this year, we have not collected any identified body of person of Serb nationality either from Bosnia-Herzegovina or Kosovo and have collected just 39 from Croatia. That points to the fact that the authorities and institutions in the territories where we are searching for our nearest and dearest are not doing all they can, all that we rightly expect them to do, and that thus, the attitude to this issue is not the same in every ex-Yugoslav state, says Odalović. He added that a list of another 729 missing persons for whom their families are searching was submitted in Zagreb recently. He said he hoped that a declaration on the role of the state in resolving the issues of missing persons, to be signed in Mostar by the presidents of Serbia, Croatia, BIH and Montenegro, would contribute to the shedding of light on the fate of the missing.
Ombudsman Saša Janković assessed that the Commission was doing its job well and that there was no need for him to react to its work. He underlined that one must not allow the question of the missing to be put into background with the lapse of time – it should be dealt with continuously in order that full truth be reached.
The president of the Coordination of Serbian Associations of the Families of Persons Missing or Killed in Wars in former Yugoslavia, Dragan Pjevač, stressed that, on the basis of the Association’s data, there are 2,146 Serbs that have gone missing in Croatia, 1,600 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and 532 in Kosovo-Metohija. There are 238 identified graves in Croatia that have not been exhumed yet and there are 345 bodies that have not been identified.
Coordination Deputy President Duško Čelić says that there are no indications at all that any new information on Serbs missing in Kosovo-Metohija will have appeared by the end of the year. He assessed the report of special prosecutor Clint Williamson on traffic in organs of Serbs kidnapped in Kosovo as an insult for the victims’ families. Although the period for the processing of those crimes expires in 15 years, no trial for those crimes has been formed nor have any indictments been issued, Čelić emphasizes.
