Recak Massacre Suspects Appear at Ruling Party Events in Serbia and Deny the Crime

Nearly three decades after the bodies of Albanian civilians were discovered in the valley of the village of Recak in Kosovo, the trial for this crime has begun in Pristina, while official Belgrade continues to deny it.

The trial began on July 31, but at the start of the hearing, the judge announced that the defendants’ bench was empty. More than 20 members of the Serbian army and police, who have been indicted in absentia for the killing of 42 people, are in Serbia, Radio Free Europe (RFE) writes, as reported by KosovaPress.

Some of the defendants are members of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which is in power, while others have been honored with high state decorations.

An analysis of available data and archives conducted by Radio Free Europe (RFE) shows that some of them continue to publicly promote what they present as “the truth about Recak.”

Ten of them denied the killing of Albanian civilians in a film broadcast by Serbia’s public broadcaster.

In Serbia, no official proceedings are being conducted against these individuals. Serbia’s ministries of the interior, defense and justice did not respond to RFE’s questions about the defendants, against whom an international arrest warrant has been issued.

Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office also failed to respond to Radio Free Europe’s questions.

Kosovo’s indictment contradicts Belgrade’s version, according to which the events in Recak were the result of a “legitimate police operation” in which members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) were killed.

Although the killing of civilians has been established by several international organizations, including the Hague Tribunal, Serbian authorities continue to claim that the massacre was staged.

Defendants’ presence at ruling-party events

“There is no reason for us to be afraid; we know that we fought for our state.”

Goran Radosavljevic Guri gave this response during an appearance on Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) in January 2024, when he was asked whether he feared that his name might be included in the indictment of Kosovo’s Special Prosecutor’s Office.

RFE was unable to contact him after the trial began in Pristina. In previous statements, Radosavljevic had described Recak as “a perfectly executed police operation during which armed terrorists were killed.”

According to the indictment, at the time of the massacre, he served as deputy commander of the General Staff for special operations in Kosovo.

He is currently a member of the SNS, attends the party’s rallies and appears as a guest on Serbia’s national television channels.

Goran Radosavljevic Guri is also mentioned in the Hague Tribunal’s judgment against former head of the Public Security Department, Vlastimir Djordjevic. In that document, he is identified as one of the commanders of the special police forces that took part in the operation in Recak.

The Humanitarian Law Center, a nongovernmental organization, has discussed his links to this and other crimes in Kosovo. Nevertheless, he has never been tried.