Izbice, Skenderaj, 28 March 2024
After paying tribute to the Bogujevci, Duriqi and Llugaliu families, The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, continued his journey to the village of Izbicë in the Municipality of Skenderaj, to commemorate the 147 victims killed by the genocidal regime of Millosheviq, six of whom are still missing. Together with Rifat Jashari, he honored the victims of the Izbica massacre.
At the Memorial, Prime Minister Kurti said that the wounds of this massacre will remain open as long as the criminals are not in prison. Their blood is in the foundations of our freedom and state, he said.
“Neither women, nor children, nor the elderly were spared. In fact, they were deliberately targeted and shot, because Serbia, with the operation called “Horseshoe”, aimed to exterminate Albanians and implement its genocidal project against us,” he said. Regrettably, he said, for all this massacre, where 147 Albanians were killed, only one person has been arrested.
“The State Prosecutor’s Office has the power to prosecute, and the justice system generally to even try one in absentia. “I believe it is unjust, intolerable, that only one person has been arrested for the Izbica massacre, as they have the right to try one in absentia,” said the Prime Minister.
He reiterated that the State Prosecutor’s Office has the full, unreserved and unequivocal support of the Government of the Republic, so that war criminals who murdered our women, children and elderly who merely loved their land and their freedom, are behind bars, so that we can have justice and our wounds may gradually heal.
Present at the homage in Izbica were also the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Arberie Nagavci, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Bardhyl Dobra, and the Deputy Minister for Communities and Return, Mevlud Sinani.
Prime Minister Kurti’s full statement:
Today marks 25 years since the Izbica massacre, when Serbian military, police, paramilitary forces, all under the control of official Belgrade, which was then led by the Butcher of the Balkans, Slobodan Milosevic, killed 147 unprotected and innocent Albanian civilians. Neither women, nor children, nor the elderly were spared. In fact, they were deliberately targeted and shot, because Serbia, with the operation called “Horseshoe”, aimed to exterminate Albanians and implement its genocidal project against us.
Out of these 147 martyrs, six are still missing, given that, after they were buried when they were killed here, they were later exhumed, to erase traces of the crime. They were reburied in Serbia, to erase traces of the crime and only much later were brought to Kosovo, when we also, I re-emphasize discover that six of them are still missing.
Their blood is the foundation of our freedom and state, but today we must sadly say that for all this massacre, where 147 Albanians were killed, only one person has been arrested.
The State Prosecutor’s Office has the opportunity to prosecute, and the justice system in general, even to try one in absentia.
I believe it is unjust, intolerable, that only one person has been arrested for the Izbica massacre, as they have the right to try one in absentia. Prosecutors have good salaries, and they have favorable working conditions. All that is required is the will and the knowledge, so that for this massacre and for many massacres throughout Kosovo, for which we will mark their 25th anniversaries this spring, to have many commanders and executors behind bars.
Before coming here, I was in Llap, where we visited the Bogujevci, Llugaliu, and Duriqi families, who also had their most loved ones killed 25 years ago. We have the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Saranda Bogujevci, with 16 bullet holes in her body.
Over in Serbia, a judicial process has been carried out for a show, from which the head criminal Sasha Cvjetan has served 2/3 of his sentencing and was released after a maximum sentence of 20 years, but unrepentant, as they could hardly wait to let him go, only later to be re-arrested as the head of a drug cartel in Athens, Greece.
So, war criminals and organized crime are interconnected, thus the State Prosecutor’s Office must do everything it knows and is able to. SPO has the full, unreserved and unequivocal support of the Government of the Republic, so that war criminals who murdered our women, children and elderly, native Albanian civilians who merely loved their land and their freedom, are behind bars, so that we can have justice and our wounds may gradually heal.
Wounds cannot heal until the criminals are imprisoned. It is justice that heals these wounds, and that is our duty as the Republic of Kosovo, as an independent state, built on the foundations and the blood of our martyrs and heroes, now able to enjoy our freedom, build our lives, and create the progress we have.
Therefore, it is crucial that, after two and a half decades, there may still be trials in absentia, as well as a significant increase in the efforts of prosecutors and judges, so that those criminals end up behind bars. Today the possibilities are greater, the salaries are higher, the working conditions are good, all that is required is the will and knowledge of the State Prosecutor’s Office.
Last modified: March 29, 2024