BELGRADE – No remains were found at the first searched location in the village of Piskota near Djakovica, southwestern Kosovo-Metohija, which is believed to contain bodies of 20 Serb civilians killed in the prison camp of Likovac, Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic told Tanjug on Wednesday.
For now, by the first order of EULEX, 30 meters have been dug over and searched at the location that is the size of a stadium, but the search will continue, Vukcevic said, noting that the remains of (Albanian) victims were found in Rudnica near Raska in the seventh attempt.
He noted that the Serbian war crimes prosecution is cooperating with the EULEX prosecution on the search of the location in the village of Piskota.
“The site that is being searched is difficult to access. There are many snakes there, but this actually confirms the prosecution’s presumption, as where there are snakes, there are bodies too,” Vukcevic said.
The Office of the Serbian Prosecutor for War Crimes stated on Monday that they have the information that the bodies buried at the location could be of the victims killed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA, a former ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization) at their prison camp called Likovac.
According to the data of the Association of the Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in the Likovac camp near Srbica, 10 kidnapped and missing miners from Belacevac mine were among those Serb civilians.
The Association’s representatives said at a meeting at the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday that more thorough search is expected not only in Piskota, but at all locations which are believed to contain the remains of Serbs.
The Association noted that the search is still on in Kosovo for 500 Serbs kidnapped and missing during 1998/1999, while only in the area of Djakovica 73 Serb civilians went missing, and its representatives called for indictments against perpetrators and persons responsible for these crimes.
Association President Simo Spasic told Tanjug after the meeting that the EULEX Prosecutor’s Office is well familiar with the fact that the Likovac camp was managed by KLA commanders Hasim Taci (Kosovo’s outgoing prime minister), Fatmir Ljimaji and Jakub Krasnici.
