Kosovo massacre survivors seek justice 25 years after
Category
đ
NewsTranscript
00:00 A quarter of a century ago this week, Serbian soldiers invaded the Kosovar village of Paklak
00:06 and laid waste on the community, brutally taking the lives of at least 53 Albanians.
00:11 As the village in Albania quietly mourned the vicious massacre, a number of survivors
00:16 still seek justice for their families 25 years after.
00:20 VUA's Kida Kostaci narrates the full story.
00:25 The indelible marks of a massacre suffused this house in Paklak, about 20 kilometers
00:30 west of Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
00:34 On April 17, 1999, Serbian forces shot the owner, Sinan Mucoli, and another man, Umer
00:41 Elshani, outside, execution style, then turned their weapons on the people inside.
00:48 Survivor Husen Kluna spoke to VUA from the house where it happened.
00:52 They started firing an automatic rifle outside and then opened the door and threw an explosive
01:02 device.
01:03 There was a lot of screaming, panic.
01:06 They came in and started firing at everyone.
01:09 I was wounded in my left hand.
01:11 Elhamen Mucoli was only 14 when it happened.
01:14 She was one of only six who survived.
01:20 I don't even know how I summoned the courage to open the window and escape with the Serbian
01:26 police outside the house.
01:30 She lost her mother, three sisters, and two brothers.
01:38 Twenty-four children ranging from four months old to 14 years old, as well as older people,
01:43 were killed, all civilians, mostly women and children.
01:47 Deuda Elshani was 23 and a refugee in northern Macedonia when her father, Umer Elshani,
01:53 was killed.
01:54 She heard about the massacre from a television news report.
01:57 She lost her entire family, both parents and four brothers.
02:04 I wished for a long time that it wasn't true, and that belief sustained me.
02:09 They were really difficult days, but gradually I came to terms with it.
02:14 A quarter century after it happened, the pain is amplified by the fact that justice is elusive.
02:26 It is like a second killing for them.
02:29 Government after government has done nothing to document the massacres and hold the perpetrators
02:34 responsible.
02:36 Kosovo's government says it is working diligently to document the atrocities and do its part
02:41 to deliver justice.
02:43 Serbia has not apologized and does not recognize Kosovo's declaration of independence from
02:48 Serbia in 2008.
02:51 Activists say that is delaying justice.
02:54 American University international law professor Paul Williams says delivering justice for
02:59 atrocities is essential for healing.
03:03 Unfortunately governments are often times told to forgive and forget, but we've seen
03:09 time and time again that a forgive and forget is not a path to reconciliation.
03:14 You need accountability, you need truth, you need accurate historical record.
03:19 Only a handful of members of the former Serbian regime has been tried for war crimes, and
03:25 a number of former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, former president HaĆĄim FaÄi among them,
03:31 are facing war crimes charges.
03:34 They have pleaded not guilty.
03:36 Kejda Kostreci, VOA News, Washington.
03:39 (upbeat music)