Vučić Silent on Mass Grave in Zubin Potok, Raises Allegations over Ujman and Deçan

On the same day that the excavation of a mass grave containing Albanians officially began in northern Kosovo, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić did not address the issue, instead portraying Serbia as the victim, even though it was the state that had concealed the people it had killed.

During his visit to the municipality of Čačak on Thursday, Vučić claimed that Kosovo’s authorities were terrorizing Serbian citizens. He referred to the operation to demolish illegal structures in the area around Lake Ujman, as well as the Kosovo government’s decision that, starting August 1, visits to cultural, historical and religious heritage sites must be led exclusively by certified tour guides.

“Pristina’s terror is continuing, but no terror has lasted forever,” he said.

Vučić, who previously served as a senior official in the Serbian Radical Party, described in the same terms the local authorities’ work to repair roads within the Visoki Dečani Monastery’s Special Protective Zone.

“They constantly come up with something new. When they had to accept court rulings, because everything depended on them, in relation to the Europeans, the Americans and so on, they accepted them under pressure, while waiting for a new opportunity to harass our monks at the Visoki Dečani Monastery,” Vučić said.

According to a clarification from the Municipality of Deçan, work on the mountain roads within this Special Protective Zone is limited to filling potholes, clearing vegetation and shrubs, and removing dust that has accumulated along the road.

The intervention near Ujman is also a continuation of the inspectorate’s operation to demolish illegal structures that had not been removed within the deadline set by the “Ibër–Lepenc” enterprise.

Vučić’s accusations came on the very day that Kosovo’s acting president, Albulena Haxhiu, accused him of refusing to reveal the locations of Albanians who were killed and disappeared, and of failing to open archives that would help shed light on war crimes.