PRIŠTINA REFUSES FOR 27 YEARS TO CLARIFY THE FATE OF TEN KIDNAPPED MINERS

BELGRADE, JUNE 22 /SRNA/ – Albanian terrorists kidnapped ten workers from the "Belaćevac" surface mine in Kosovo and Metohija on this day in 1998, and their fate has never been clarified, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija of the Government of Serbia stated.

The Office emphasized that those responsible for the first mass abduction of Serbs before the start of armed conflicts in the southern Serbian province have never been brought to justice.

This abduction, they noted, was a prelude to the evil that would strike the Serbian people in the years to come, and it foreshadowed the insidious and criminal methods that separatists would use in carrying out terror against Serbs.

“Unfortunately, even today we are witnessing that a policy of impunity for crimes against Serbs prevails in Priština, as seen in numerous examples where our people have fallen victim to the terror of Aljbin Kurti,” the statement said.

The Office recalled that for years they have been demanding that the international community and its representatives in Kosovo and Metohija pressure Priština to clarify the abduction of the miners and many other crimes against Serbs, in order to provide some form of solace to the families of the abducted and killed.

This, they stressed, is a precondition for building a normal society in which criminals are not celebrated as heroes.

“Serbs remember their abducted and murdered, and no force will make them forget. No one should hope that genuine interethnic reconciliation and trust in Kosovo and Metohija are possible if efforts continue to forcibly close the dark chapters of history and cover up crimes,” the Office warned.

On June 22, 1998, members of the terrorist KLA took ten workers from the "Belaćevac" surface mine off a bus and led them away in an unknown direction.

Those kidnapped that day on their way to work were Žarko Spasić, brothers Petar and Zoran Ađančić, their father Dušan, as well as Filip Gojković, Miroslav Trifunović, Srboljub Savić, Mirko Buha, Božidar Lempić, and Dragan Vukmirović.

None of the abducted men have been found, and no one has been held accountable for their kidnapping.