Office for KiM: Taci's statement is irresponsible and untrue

BELGRADE - The Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) has strongly condemned a statement by Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci that Serbian forces committed genocide in Kosovo, stressing that this claim is irresponsible and untrue.

Radio Television of Kosovo has reported Taci as saying during the burial of the remains of 27 ethnic Albanians in Suva Reka on Wednesday that the Serbian forces “committed genocide” in Kosovo.

The Suva Reka victims were killed on March 26, 1999, at the beginning of NATO’s air campaign against Yugoslavia, and their bodies were discovered in a mass grave in Batajnica, near Belgrade, in June 2001.

The Office for KiM said in a release that “one should take care about the significance and weight of uttered words” and stressed that Taci’s statement is “irresponsible and untrue, and does not contribute to the process of reconciliation and normalization of relations.”

The release said that the Republic of Serbia, its government and Office of KiM always point out that anyone who committed a crime, regardless of their national or religious affiliation, should be punished and sentenced.

The Office for KiM recalled the fact that the Belgrade’s High Court War Crimes Department convicted four former Serbian policemen to long-term prison sentences for their involvement in the crimes in Suva Reka.
“However, we are asking Taci and the international community what to call the mass crimes committed against Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija that nobody has been held responsible for and whose perpetrators have remained without a first and last name for decades.

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