Islami: Veljko Odalović’s presence remains a provocation for war victims and an obstacle to shedding light on the issue of the missing

Security analyst Avni Islami has stated that Veljko Odalović’s continued role at the head of the Serbian Government Commission for Missing Persons represents a direct provocation and an open insult to the war victims in Kosovo.

Through a post on Facebook, Islami recalled that until 1999, Odalović was a senior part of Slobodan Milošević’s criminal regime, where he served as President of the Kosovo District with headquarters in Pristina.

“After the withdrawal of Serbian forces, he continued his political career in Belgrade,” Islami wrote.

According to him, Odalović’s involvement in the process of handling the issue of missing persons since 2006 has consistently been accompanied by tensions and obstacles in the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, due to repeated objections from Kosovo institutions.

In his reaction, Islami accuses Odalović of leading an aggressive campaign based on two main directions.

He says the first direction is linked to efforts to justify and deny the war crimes committed against Albanian civilians.

“Today, Odalović continues to lead an aggressive campaign based on two dangerous directions: Justifying war crimes: He tries to publicly deny the massacres of Albanian civilians. Recently, commenting on the arrest of five suspects in the case known as ‘Recak Two,’ he called law enforcement ‘pressure on Serbs’ and threatened that this is ‘a message for the expelled.’ He aims to manipulate the international factor by portraying local Serbs as being threatened by Albanians, in order to hide Serbia’s state responsibility and to obstruct their integration. Kosovo institutions remain determined in their demand for justice and the clarification of the fate of all the missing, refusing to allow this humanitarian file to be held hostage by figures who served the Milošević regime,” Islami wrote.