Fehlinger-Jahn: Serbia’s EU integration should be conditional on clarifying the fate of the missing

Austrian economist Günther Fehlinger-Jahn, chairman of the Austrian Committee for NATO Enlargement, is calling on the European Union to make cooperation in clarifying the fate of people who went missing during the war in Kosovo an important part of Serbia’s EU integration process. He said this includes opening archives, identifying grave sites and fully documenting the historical record.

Fehlinger-Jahn also addressed SNS chairman Millosh Vuçeviç regarding the arrest of nine people in Zubin Potok. He said claims of their innocence should be defended in court, while any allegations that police fabricated evidence or violated rights must be documented and substantiated.

He said describing the arrests as “terror” or “ethnic cleansing” does not address the physical evidence or help identify missing persons. He stressed that political campaigning cannot replace answers to forensic evidence and that Serbia’s election calendar should not influence the timing of criminal investigations in Kosovo.

Fehlinger-Jahn called for heightened vigilance during October, a period he described as politically sensitive in Serbia. He urged that everything be documented and that political rhetoric be met with verifiable facts, archives, DNA, forensic evidence and international law, not propaganda.

At the heart of his appeal are the missing and their families’ right to learn the truth and have their loved ones close to them. He called for a search for every missing person, the opening of every relevant archive, the discovery of graves and the identification of victims, so their remains can be returned to their families wherever the families wish and they can be honored with dignity. Fehlinger-Jahn also called for the chain of responsibility to be established and for accountability for every crime that can still be proven.

Noting that 27 years have passed, he said no missing person should be forgotten, no hidden grave should be ignored, no identified victim should remain without a dignified return, and no relevant archive should remain closed. He concluded by calling for all victims to be accounted for and the facts to be established: first the truth, then justice based on evidence, and finally reconciliation.