14. 01. 2015

Cases of killed, missing journalists should be investigated

In a joint statement, the DNKiM and the UNS urge the relevant international and Pristina institutions to act upon the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Advisory Panel in Pristina, delivered after determining numerous omissions in relation to the cases of killed and missing journalists in Kosovo-Metohija.

The two associations point to major irregularities in UNMIK's police and court operations and drastic violations of the European Convention of Human Rights in the cases of missing and killed journalists.

"It has been shown that not even a minimal probe was conducted in cases of kidnappings and killings, and in cases where there were witnesses who point to potential perpetrators, none of them was questioned," says the statement by the two professional associations.

The DNKiM and the UNS called on the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to inform the public about his moves after the Human Rights Advisory Panel had published its conclusions.

The international police forces and judiciary had certain information concerning the kidnapping of Ljubomir Knezevic, a correspondent of the Politika and Jedinstvo dailies, RTS staffer in Pristina Mile Buljevic, journalist at the Serb newsroom of Radio-Television of Kosovo Marijan Melonasi, but did nothing to shed light on their fate, says the release.

In relation to the abduction of Knezevic in Vucitrn on May 6, 1999, the Human Rights Advisory Panel highlighted as particularly concerning the fact that police documents mention two possible perpetrators and point to another nine suspects, but the police did not even try to question those people, says the release.

According to eyewitnesses' accounts, Buljevic was abducted by people in KLA uniforms in Pristina on June 25, 1999, while for the kidnapping of Marijan Melonasi, two dates are mentioned - September 6 or 9, 2000, and the police first took interest in the crime in 2005, when they just entered the facts into the database and closed the case, noted the DNKiM and the UNS.

The Panel underlines that the police did not go to Melonasi's home in Pristina or his workplace (RTK), outside which he was kidnapped. The investigation did not happen despite a possibility that this was "politically motivated violence", reads the release.

The results are still pending for the enqiry into the investigation into the murder of Aleksandar Simovic, a journalist and translator, which is being carried out by the Commission. Simovic went missing in Pristina on August 21, 1999, and a part of his remains was found in the village of Obrinje near Glogovac.

The DNKiM and the UNS call on the Human Rights Advisory Panel to invest additional efforts, although the deadline for filing complaints has expired, and investigate in detail human rights violations in the court and police operations in Kosovo in the case of the journalists of Ranko Perenic and Djuro Slavuj that went missing on August 21, 1998, and the murder of photo-reporter Momir Stokuca on September 21, 1999.

The Panel recommends UNMIK to call on EULEX and other competent bodies to carry out crime investigations, prosecute perpetrators, and own up UNMIK's responsibility for non-effective investigations, apologize to families, pay them proper compensation for the pain and anguish inflicted upon them, says the release.

The DNKiM and the UNS believe that UNMIK's omissions, as well as the Commission's overall findings, should be considered at the UN Security Council.