War crimes report promoted, Kurti: Institutional testimony of the heavy cost of our freedom

Kosovo’s acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, attended the publication ceremony of the report documenting crimes committed during the armed conflict.

Addressing the audience, he emphasized that the data in this document are essential for recording the atrocities that Serbian forces committed in Kosovo at the end of the last century.

“This report serves as an institutional confirmation of the high price we paid for the freedom we enjoy today. It embodies people, existences, children, and stories that cannot simply be summed up in figures, but which our state has an obligation to record meticulously, with honor and responsibility. For the time frame of January 1, 1998 – June 20, 1999, a total of 12,230 victims of the war in Kosovo have been registered. Every figure represents our relatives who were taken from us, families that were torn apart, and the void and pain that are still felt,” Kurti stated.

He highlighted the heavy weight of the Serbian atrocities, mentioning the fact that they struck even the youngest.

“A particularly heavy burden is borne by the crimes exercised against minors. The document records that in the age group 0–17 years we have: 1,047 children executed, 94 others lost their lives as a result of the circumstances of the conflict, while for 100 forcibly disappeared children, neither their fate nor their location is yet known.

The elimination of more than a thousand children, beyond being a tragic statistic, is an unhealable wound for our society. It is a continuous indictment against the savagery of war and an obligation for our state that the truth be recorded, justice be sought, and memory be protected,” he added.

Kurti announced that during the March–June period alone, 9,948 people were killed, which constitutes approximately 81.3% of all victims registered in this report (12,230).

According to him, this fact demonstrates the horror experienced by the civilian population in the most intensive phase of the war.

“The list is preliminary, but this does not mean the work has remained unfinished. It shows that the institute will continue to update it whenever new documents or testimonies are secured. This is the only path to create an institutional database that defies time and assists future generations.

Therefore, I wish to make an appeal to the families of victims, state institutions, organizations, and every citizen who possesses documents or data of importance, to coordinate actions with the institute. Every new piece of information will be considered with seriousness and according to the same professional scientific methodology.

Because without documentation, memory does not exist. Without memory, justice cannot be achieved. And without justice, there can be no sustainable peace,” he concluded.

Kurti also commented on the event a day earlier in Zubin-Potok, where excavation work began on a mass grave.

“While these excavations are the fruit of the engagement of our institutions, Serbia’s non-fulfillment of the Brussels Declaration on Forcibly Disappeared Persons, agreed upon on May 2, 2023, specifically the refusal to open army files, confirms that the neighboring country continues to evade accountability for the crimes committed in our country during the last war. Therefore, we reiterate our call to international actors to increase pressure on Serbia so that, among other things, the decision on classification be annulled and the archive of the 37th Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslav Army be opened, in order to obtain information to clarify the fate of the forcibly disappeared,” Kurti declared.

This report was drafted by the Institute for Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo.