On this day in 1998, Albanian terrorists kidnapped nine workers from the Belacevac open-pit mine in Kosovo and Metohija. Their fate has never been clarified. The kidnapping of the miners from the “Belacevac” mine was the first in a series of mass kidnappings of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija committed by members of the terrorist KLA. To this day, more than 560 Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are considered missing.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the kidnapping of the nine Serbian miners from the “Belacevac” mine near Obilic, family members, friends, and citizens gathered in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.
With a minute of silence, they paid tribute to them and marked 28 years since their disappearance, for which no one has yet been held accountable, nor has their fate been clarified.
In honor of the missing, family members, friends, colleagues, and representatives of the association of families of the kidnapped and missing laid wreaths at the “Istina” (Truth) monument, saying that it remains for the families to persevere in learning the truth about the fate of their loved ones.
Dragisa Kostic addressed the gathered on behalf of the Association of Families of the Kidnapped, saying that justice for the missing will surely be served and expressing confidence that it will be fair.
Silvana Marinkovic from the Association of Families of the Kidnapped and Missing from Kosovo and Metohija pointed out that they are not giving up on searching for the truth, and that is why they gather every year to mark this sad date, in the hope that by the next anniversary there will be progress and that there will no longer be a need for such gatherings.
“However, even today, after 28 years, we are at the beginning of our long journey. Unfortunately, there are fewer of us now. There used to be many more families at this gathering, but now many members of our families have passed away. I hope that soon all institutions and those responsible will finally start working and that we will resolve the fate of all the missing, regardless of nationality,” Marinkovic stated.
Negovan Mavric from the Association for Missing Persons from Orahovac advocated for the opening of all archives that could help clarify the fate of the missing, because, as he stated, only families searching for their loved ones know how much it hurts to live in uncertainty.
“That is why today we are showing everyone that we care about clarifying the fate of all missing persons, regardless of nation, because every family should be happy at least with the return of bones. Of course, it does not depend only on us, but on many others, and that is why I ask everyone to open the archives, regardless of whether they are local, military, police, KLA, or any others, because in those archives we see our hope that we could clarify the fate of our loved ones,” Mavric said.
The kidnapping of the nine miners was the second mass kidnapping of Serbs in 1998 carried out by members of the so-called “Kosovo Liberation Army” (KLA). The first occurred a month earlier, on May 14, 1998.
Office for KiM: The first in a series of mass kidnappings of Serbs in KiM
The Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated that international investigative bodies “did not invest sufficient efforts at the time to clarify this and many other crimes committed by terrorists in Kosovo and Metohija.” At the same time, they state that Pristina not only makes no attempt to face this dark page of history, but continues to “build upon the ideology of hatred and use it to construct a political system in which Serbs and everything Serbian are undesirable.”
“Today in Kosovo and Metohija, prominent Serbs are being arrested under false charges, while the real criminals from Pristina have not only not been held accountable for their crimes, but are celebrated as heroes among the separatists,” the statement said.
It added that a system built on crimes cannot last long.
“Until the fate of the kidnapped and missing is clarified, the prerequisites for true inter-ethnic trust and the creation of a society in which human rights will be an inviolable value will not be met,” the statement reads.
The Office for Kosovo and Metohija says that for Serbia, this, as well as many other crimes in Kosovo and Metohija, will never be forgotten or subject to the statute of limitations, and that justice and deserved punishment will reach those responsible.
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Source: RTS, Photo: Kosovo online