Pristina drops probe into suspected killers of 14 Serbs

Pristina drops probe into suspected killers of 14 Serbs

Tanjug reported on Friday that an international prosecutor in 2007 launched the investigation into eight persons - former members of the KLA ("Kosovo Liberation Army") unit from Lipljan - suspected of committing the massacre of the Serb civilians.

Nine years after the probe was launched and later expanded, the process has been stopped with no adequate explanation.

The Staro Gracko victims were Milovan Jovanovic (born in 1969), Jovica Zivic (1970), Radovan Zivic (1967), Andrija Odalovic (1967), Slobodan Janicijevic (1965), Mile Janicijevic (1957), Novica Janicijevic (1981), Momcilo Janicijevic (1946), Stanimir Dekic (1955), Bozidar Dekic (1947), Sasa Cvejic (1973), Ljubisa Cvejic (1939), Nikola Stojanovic (1936) i Miodrag Tepsic (1951).

"Disgrace"

Serbian Justice Minister Nela Kuburovic reacted to the news on Friday to say that it "once again confirms the injustice toward Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija."

Kuburovic said the decision was "disgraceful."

"Even 18 years later the Pristina judiciary fails to establish the truth about the perpetrators of this monstrous crime. Is this the equality for all citizens that Pristina supposedly stands for? Is this equal access to justice? Does it mean that every murder, torture, and brutal attack on Serbs in Kosovo will go unpunished?," she asked in a statement for Tanjug.

Apparently referring to Ramush Haradinaj, Kuburovic said it was scandalous to celebrate the release of a terrorist, murderer and rapist - for whom there is countless evidence that he committed the gravest crimes against civilians - while the killers of 14 Serbs do not have a name even nearly 20 years later.

Kuburovic said that true and sincere reconciliation in Kosovo can happen only once the driving of fear and terror into the Serb population ends, and said she hoped that a specialist court for KLA crimes in the Hague would bring to justice those responsible for the Staro Gracko crime.