Kosovo: Goraždevac crime commemorated

Kosovo: Goraždevac crime commemorated

Ivan Jovović and Pantelija Dakić were killed with shots fired from an automatic weapon on August 13, 2003, while Đorđe Ugrenović, Bogdan Bukumirić, Marko Bogićević and Dragana Srbljak were seriously injured.

The Kosovo Police Service (KPS) called on all people who had information about the case to come forward.

According to the KPS, 75 witnesses have been interviewed and 100 homes searched as part of the investigation.

It resulted in the seizure of seven weapons, but no suspects were named in the Goraždevac case.

Even though the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) had promised that the perpetrators would be arrested and that “no stone would remain unturned to find the killers,” those responsible for shooting at the children who were swimming in the river at the time have not been found.

UNMIK has offered a EUR 1mn award for any information on the killers, but to no avail.

A service was held today in a local church to commemorate the deaths. However, not a single Serbian, or Kosovo Serb official, attended the ceremony.

Tadić: Kosovo not ready for democracy

President Boris Tadić expressed his concern today, and strongly condemned UNMIK and Kosovo's interim institutions, saying it was unacceptable that four years after the crime, the muderers of Jovović and Dakić are still at large.

"It is unacceptable that four years later we do not now the names of the killers who fired at the boys bathing in the river," Tadić said.

He called on the Kosovo Albanian leadership to engage in efforts to close the case, and urged them to prevent the spread of extremism within their ranks, in order to put an end to murders, intimidations, and destruction of property belonging to the Serbs and other non-Albanians in the province.

Tadić said the fate of the case investigating the crime from four years ago is another proof that Kosovo is ready neither for democracy nor for establishing a multi-ethnic society.