Kralan, Gjakova, 2 April, 2024
On the 25th anniversary of the massacres committed by the armed forces of Serbia, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in Kralan of Gjakova, commemorated those killed in the massacre of the civilian population in this village.
First paying homage to the martyrs’ cemetery near the school named “8 Martyrs”, Prime Minister Kurti emphasized that the vast majority of those killed by the order givers and executioners in Serbia, during the last war in Kosovo, were defenseless civilians and they are the same our price paid for the freedom we enjoy today.
“I am very glad that the school bears the name “8 Martyrs”, because we must remind all generations, both the current ones and those who come after us, even the children who have not been born yet, will become students in this school one day, that the freedom we enjoy, the state we build and develop has its roots precisely in this high price that we paid with the blood of the martyrs and martyrs of the nation”, said the prime minister.
Prime Minister Kurti placed flowers on the tombstone on which are written 88 names of Albanians, who, as he said, were killed because they were Albanians and wanted to live freely in their ancestral land. Of the thousands of residents from the region gathered in Kralan, separated men from women violently by Serbian forces, 86 unarmed civilians were killed, while two others were killed on the way to deportation to Albania. 11 of the victims of this crime were children, while 18 of those killed were found near the Peruçac Lake in Bajina Bashta, Serbia.
The fact that the criminals killed the Albanians and stole their corpses shows how much they are responsible for this double crime, so the Prime Minister stressed that the responsibility and the truth lies in the archives of official Belgrade, which must return over 1600 bodies of our loved ones, who are still missing 25 years later.
“We also call on the international factor to put pressure on Belgrade, so that there is justice for Kosovo, for the many victims everywhere, of the spring of 1999, since without justice, the wound continues to drain and the families of the martyrs continue to they have anxiety and suffering, since many of them do not know where they have the dead bodies of their loved ones”, Prime Minister Kurti concluded.
Witnesses have recounted how between April 2 and 4, 1999, Serbian military and police forces tortured hundreds of Albanian men and boys surrounded by tanks in a field in Kralan. After two days of beating and ill-treatment, on April 4, by the group of boys and men, who were kept in the meadow, all the time surrounded by tanks, without water and without food, a large number of them were released. 86 of them were detained, including 11 minors. Since that day, none of them have been seen alive.
In these tributes, the Prime Minister was accompanied by the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Arbërie Nagavci, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Xelal Sveçla, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Agon Dobruna, the Deputy Minister of Regional Development, Ali Tafarshiku, the Deputy Minister of Health, Dafina Gexha Bunjaku, deputies of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, Mimoza Kusari Lila and Agon Batusha, as well as central and local level officials.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete statement at the martyrs’ cemetery:
We are honored to be here among you at this important time when you evoke memories for the 25th anniversary of the glorious battles of the Kosovo Liberation Army, but also of the cruel crimes of the Serbian forces against the civilian population, and I am very pleased that the school bears the name “8 Martyrs”. Because we must remind all generations, both the current ones and those who come after us, even the children who have not yet been born, will become students in this school one day, that the freedom we enjoy, the state we we build and develop has its roots precisely in this high price that we have paid with the blood of martyrs and martyrs of the nation.
On this occasion, it is important to always emphasize that the vast majority of those killed during the last war in Kosovo were defenseless civilians, and for that reason are also the order givers and executioners in Serbia. There have been trials at the Hague Tribunal, in which case, for example, Vllastimir Gjorgjević was sentenced to 18 years in prison. In 2019, his request for early release was rejected and many of the crimes that took place from Serbia’s “Horseshoe” operation in Dukagjin were practically included in the indictment against him, but he did not come here himself to execute the crimes.
There are hundreds of executors all over Kosovo and they should face justice. Since 2019, trial and sentencing in absentia has been made possible in our Republic, therefore the State Prosecutor’s Office should continue the punishment of the perpetrators in The Hague, where unfortunately the perpetrator, the butcher of the Balkans, Milosevic, died there without receiving the sentence deservedly, they should now be followed here in Kosovo with the punishments of these executors, even more so that in the Hague Tribunal there is the trial and punishment for the order givers. Now for the others who have committed these crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in the field, there should be court proceedings in Kosovo.
We are together with ministers, deputy ministers with fellow MPs, representatives of the people, in order to emphasize once again our respect, our obligation to the martyrs and martyrs of the nation, to the veterans and invalids of the war, to the families of the martyrs, but also to call for institutional justice since the wounds remain open when justice for the victims does not close them.
Glory to all martyrs of the nation!
Prime Minister Kurti’s statement at the tombstone of the martyrs:
We are here in Kralan of Gjakova at the tombstone on which are written 88 names of Albanians who were killed because they were Albanians and wanted to live free in their ancestral land. In Kralan, thousands of residents from all over this region have gathered, defenseless, unarmed civilians, and after separating the men from the women, many of them have been deported to Albania, even during the deportation there were murders and 86 were killed here and two more during on the way, that all the names have in this tombstone. There is evidence, there are witnesses, but justice is still missing since indictments, trials and punishments are needed for criminals wherever they are, even in absentia. 11 were children, and in addition 18 of these who were killed were found near Lake Peruçac in Bajina Basta, Serbia, where Serbia tried to bury the truth after exhuming the corpses and kidnapping them.
The fact that the criminals killed the Albanians and stole their corpses shows how much they are responsible for this double crime.
Therefore, we call on the international factor to put pressure on Belgrade, so that there is justice for Kosovo, for the many victims everywhere, of the spring of 1999, since without justice, the wound continues to drain, and the families of the martyrs continue to have anxiety and suffering, since many of them do not know where they have the dead bodies of their loved ones.
So, the responsibility and the truth is in the archives of official Belgrade and from there we would have to learn and return the bodies of our loved ones, who are still missing even 25 years later. Over 1,600 missing people are still in Kosovo.
Thank you very much
Last modified: April 2, 2024