Prishtina, 2 April, 2024
Dear cabinet members, deputy prime ministers, ministers and deputy ministers,
Dear citizens,
We started today with tributes in Gjakovë, on the 25th anniversary of the massacre, killing and burning of the children and women of the Vejsa, Hoxha, Haxhiavdija, Caka, Gashi and Nuçi families.
We were also in Kralan, where between April 2 and 4, 1999, the military and police forces of Serbia tortured thousands of Albanian men and boys, especially hundreds surrounded by tanks in a field, without water and without food. They were released after two days of beating and mistreatment. On April 4, they detained 86 of them, including 11 minors. Since that day, none of them have been seen alive. In fact, two of them, who were traveling to Albania after the deportation, were killed on the way and their names are on the lepidar in Kralan today. 18 of those killed were found near Lake Perucac in Bajina Bashta, Serbia. Since then, most of them have disappeared.
It is evident that the policemen and soldiers of Serbia had such a great hatred and such a detailed plan before committing the crime, and to commit the crime, that their biggest preoccupation was how to eliminate the bodies. Burnings, disappearances, abduction of corpses, throwing them into wells followed by explosives, and other human forms of damage and disappearance of corpses prove this.
During the past days, we have commemorated the Massacre of Krusha e Vegël and Krusha e Maghe, the Berisha family massacre in Suharekë, the Izbica massacre, the Bogujevci, Duriqi and Llugaliu families massacre, in Podujevë, the Beleg massacre in Deçan and the Pastasel massacre in Rahovec. Yesterday we were in Lybeniq, Peja, to commemorate the massacre of April 1, 1999. In many of these massacres, we still have missing persons.
Every day we remember the sacrifices of these families, who raised their children in the anxiety of waiting. At the last meeting, we approved a new measure to increase support for these families. Through the Agency for Gender Equality, we have opened the call for subsidies for women and girls, who constitute close families of persons who disappeared by violence during the last war in Kosovo, recorded in the list of pensions for missing persons. Therefore, from here I appeal to them once again to take advantage of this opportunity, to achieve economic independence through self-employment and increase their well-being and that of their family.
In order to accurately document all crimes, since we often have conflicting data from different sources, we have operationalized the Institute of Crimes Committed during the War in Kosovo, for which 25 positions have already been opened. There is a lot of work there and we will do a lot of work. Therefore, I call on the experts in the field to apply to the open positions and contribute to this very important process for our Republic, for our history and for our future.
In addition to the call to deposit as much evidence as possible about the crimes committed anywhere in Kosovo in the established Institute, I call on all citizens of the Republic to respond positively to the population census.
We do not have deficiencies only in the disparity of data, but also simply in their absence.
For the first time, in this population census, the questionnaire of damages from the 1998/99 war in family economies is included. Citizens will be able to declare economic damages, amounts of destroyed property, as well as damages to people, family members killed, missing, injured or imprisoned. More precisely, this period is defined from February 28, 1998, i.e. Qirezi and Likoshani until June 12, 1999, i.e. the beginning of the withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo according to the Kumanova Technical-Military Agreement. This recording, which begins on Friday, April 5, will not only give us an overview of the present, but also provide us with an evidence of the past, so that we do not have different records of the same facts and also of don’t have a lack of data for what we know, because we lived, experienced and the family members continue to suffer the most even to this day.
To address the crimes committed during the war, we have developed the legal basis, which had been missing for a long time, and we have increased the capacities of the institutions to address them efficiently.
In the Kosovo Police in the past, war crimes were handled in sectors within the Serious Crimes Investigations, with a total of 19 officers. With the new structure already approved in the Police of our country, we have raised it to the level of the War Crimes Investigation Directorate with 41 investigators. So, more than one hundred percent promotion of the relevant officials. While during 2023 war crimes investigators interviewed 191 witnesses, with the increase in the number of investigators, only in these first months of 2024, 169 war crimes witnesses were interviewed.
We have enabled the trial of war criminals in absentia since 2019. During this mandate, we have made the necessary legal changes, the Code of Criminal Procedure, so that Serbian war criminals face justice. Therefore, from here I appeal once again to our justice system, to urgently address the cases of crimes committed during the war.
We reiterate, these crimes do not get old, but the witnesses are getting older and older, and believe me, in many of these cemeteries, where the nation’s martyrs are, the graves of the survivors are also being added, who in recent years have changed life.
Therefore, it is an urgent matter to address the crimes committed during the war, especially because over the years we are losing witnesses. The evidence is there, but we are losing witnesses, because it has been a quarter of a century since the last war in Kosovo.
With the highest institutional responsibility, we must continue addressing war crimes with dedication, before justice and before history. Let’s commit to peace today and a better life for the new generations, for the little ones, for those who will come after us. Together with the Minister of Health, Arben Vitina, today we inaugurated the Department of Pediatrics in Mitrovica, after eight years of closure. It is an investment of 1 million euros, in which case from one room with seven beds, we will have 11 rooms, one of them with intensive care, with 25 beds. There are seven pediatricians and 15 nurses and we intend to increase the number of pediatricians who will be engaged, because 12 are already waiting in Kosovo.
Of this investment of around 1 million euros, approximately half is for infrastructure and inventories, while the other half is for modern, state-of-the-art medical equipment. Everything is new in this ward and adequate lighting, high ceilings, modern equipment, doctors, nurses, specialists, who are there serving with dedication and welcome all patients for check-up, definitely gives us hope that even the sacrifice of those 25 years ago, it was not in vain, since our country is making progress in every aspect. What we need is also justice. So, not only socio-economic, democratic and cultural progress, but also justice, because justice closes the wounds, which continue to bleed, because they are open.
Meanwhile, today, in this 198th meeting of the Government of the Republic of Kosovo, we will also take other decisions to increase the well-being of citizens and the development of our Republic, with special emphasis on two of them: the one for the allocation of 4 million euros for subsidizing the construction of houses for members of non-majority communities in the municipality of Northern Mitrovica, Zveçan, Leposaviq and Zubin Potok, and the proposal for the approval of the Program for High Sports Performance “Super Sportsmen”, which will be discussed at the conference on the Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, and the Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Daulina Osmani, media.
The first proposition-decision is self-explanatory. Meanwhile, this “Super Sportsmen” program aims to support top talents along their journey towards international sports success. For the Olympic cycle 2024-28, the budget of this program is 4 million euros. Thus, in addition to the rewards they receive for their results, the “Super Sportsmen” program will also support them throughout their active career towards peak results.
With these two decisions, we once again prove our interest in improving the lives and well-being of our citizens in four municipalities in the north and our commitment to support local athletes and local sports towards new and numerous successes.
This does not mean that the many other points we have covered for today are less important. Therefore, let’s start the meeting to turn them into important decisions for the citizens and our country.
Thank you.
Last modified: April 3, 2024