The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that justice for Serbia’s war crimes in Kosovo is an urgent issue because witnesses are being lost over the years.
Kurti said at the session of the Government of Kosovo that war crimes do not expire, but witnesses are dying and getting older.
“Therefore, solving war crimes is an urgent issue, especially because we are losing witnesses over the years. There is evidence, but we are losing witnesses, because a quarter of a century has passed since the last war in Kosovo,” Kurti said.
He said that today in Kralan and Djakovica he paid his respects at the graves of the murdered members of the Vejsa, Hoxha, Haxhiavdia, Caka, Gashi, Nuca, Bardoniqa, Dulatah and Gerqara families. He pointed out that 86 people were killed from Krelan, among whom 11 were minors. 18 of them were found in Lake Perućac, near Bajina Bašta, in Serbia.
He reminded that the 25th anniversary of the massacres in Velika and Mala Krusha, the massacre of the Berisha family in Suva Rijeka, the massacres in Izbica, Podujevo, Peleg, Orahovac and Lubeniq was marked in recent days.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo said that at the last session, the Government increased support for families who lost loved ones, especially women and girls from those families through the possibility of employment and self-support.
Also, as he stated, support for the accurate documentation of crimes committed in Kosovo has increased, and for this purpose, the Institute for Documenting War Crimes was established. He pointed out that in 2023, 191 witnesses of war crimes were heard, while this year alone, 169 witnesses have been heard so far.
Kurti also said that the questionnaire for the population census, which begins this Friday, April 5, will also include a question about human losses and economic damage during the war. He stated that citizens will be able to report killed, missing, injured or imprisoned family members, as well as economic damage in the period from February 28, 1998 to June 12, 1999, AA writes.
