A memorial plaque set in memory of the kidnappings of Radio Pristina’s journalists Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic was demolished and removed the sixth time, and around the place was found a large amount of bones, most likely of animal origin, report Serbian media.
The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and Metohija (DNKiM) strongly condemn the demolition of the memorial plaque at the site where journalists of Radio Pristina disappeared on August 21, 1998 and seek from the international and Kosovo institutions to find out who for the sixth time makes this vandalism.
President of the DNKiM Budimir Nicic says that this happened only a few days after Kosovo officials announced that the law on the Special Court would not be abolished, and that it was obvious that panic has caught someone. Nicic also says that it is high time that the Special Court to seriously deal with the issue of killed and abducted journalists.
“The bones that are scattered here are something that is abnormal and I hope that this is not a message for us and our colleagues,” said President of the DNKiM Budimir Nicic.
“This is a message to Belgrade that the main problems of Serbs in Kosovo are not tractors and sheeps, but that these are genuine problems and it is high time to solve this in Pristina, Belgrade, and Brussels,” adds Nicic.
Journalist Zivojin Rakocevic says that “we will not give up and in the next month we will put a new memorial plaque. ”
The case was not reported to the police because the UNS learned from the police report that the memorial plaque had been destroyed.
UNS and DNKiM urge EULEX and Kosovo police to finally begin to work responsibly and inform the public what they have done to find and punish kidnappers of journalists, reports Serbian media.
