Kosovo Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) Director Bekim Blakaj said in “Slobodno srpski” broadcast that Flora Brovina, member of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) should have resigned after publicly displaying a photo for which she claimed represents a raping of an Albanian woman by the Serbian army, which later turned out to be a hoax and the photo was in fact taken from a porn site in Iraq.
Blakaj also said the statements by some politicians that more than 20.000 women were raped during the war in Kosovo were exaggerated and he personally doesn’t believe in them, Radio kontakt plus reports.
“It should have been some sort of a moral act (submission of resignation) for her. Also, Mrs. Brovina said she has had that photo since 2003, and even if that is not true, there were recordings that she has shown that photo at some gathering in 2012. If she was convinced it was an evidence of a horrific crime then why she did not report that case to the prosecution or the police, why she did not file a criminal complaint over it,” Blakaj said.
Flora Brovina could have caused dangerous problems
Blakaj further believes Brovina did not aim to cause some inter-ethnic tensions in Kosovo by showing the photo, but did it probably to lobby for the adoption of the resolution on genocide in Kosovo. However, according to him this situation could have been very dangerous like the one in March 17, 2004 when the media published false information that the Serbs were responsible for drowning of the two Albanian boys in the Ibar River in northern Kosovo.
“Unconsciously Flora Brovina could have created such atmosphere in Kosovo since reactions were rather harsh from all the sides. The good side was that it has been discovered very fast the photo was not authentic, was not even taken in Kosovo, and is presumably an insert from a porn movie recorded in Iraq.
Speaking about number of raped women in Kosovo during the war in 1999, Blakaj said although the Humanitarian Law Centre does not have a precise number of raped women in Kosovo, he believes the statements by some politicians that 20.000 women were raped were exaggerated and he personally does not believe in them.
“This is a horribly high number. Simply, the nature of that crime is such, it cannot be as massive as the murders could be. We have information that 360 persons were killed in one day, at one place, in one village. But it is impossible to imagine that someone could have raped 360 persons at one place in one day. The nature of that crime is such that there cannot be more victims of the sexual violence than murdered and kidnapped persons.”
Number of missing and killed persons in Kosovo is 13 353
Blakaj also said that according to the Humanitarian Law Centre information 13.535 persons were killed or went missing in Kosovo in the period from 1 January 1998 to 31 December 2000.
“This number includes Serbs, Albanians, civilians, members of the Serbian police and army, the KLA and others. According to our findings out of this number 10.800 were Albanians, 2.200 were Serbs and the rest are from other communities.”
All mentioned in Dick Marty’s report should go to the Hague
Blakaj expects that all those mentioned in the Council of Europe Special Rapporteur Dick Marty’s report on Kosovo should have been invited to the Special Court in the Hague.
“I have read carefully Council of Europe report written by Dick Marty and it seems illogical to me not to invite to the Hague all those who were leading KLA at that time, because their names were mentioned several times in that report. I do not know at what capacities they would be invited, as witnesses, or suspects, but it would be illogical not to invite them at the hearings before the Special Prosecution.
Blakaj also noted the Humanitarian Law Center report published last year showed 40 court verdicts for the war crimes were made during UNMIK and EULEX time. Out of this number 39 were made during EULEX’s mandate and one during the UNMIK’s mandate.
He also stressed very few people can be content with the work of the international missions when it comes to the prosecution of war crimes in Kosovo, adding hearings were prolonged and UNMIK was cautious to preserve the peace, avoid problems and incidents and that is why it did not complete some cases they could have.
