Serbian officials react to prosecutor's report

Serbian officials react to prosecutor's report

BELGRADE -- Government's Kosovo Office head Marko Đurić says Serbia "welcomes any activity that leads to uncovering of war crimes and their perpetrators."

He made the statement on Tuesday after an EU special team announced that they found no evidence hundreds of Serbs from Kosovo were kidnapped to have their organs removed, and added that the country "can be satisfied only when there are final verdicts that will bring to justice those who committed crimes in Kosovo."

According to him, a lack of progress on these issues is "in nobody's interest - not for Serbs nor Albanians nor the international community" while "we can be satisfied only once final judgments are passed."

"Serbia welcomes any activity that leads to the discovery responsible for the monstrous crimes, in which, as can be seen from Williamson's report, people from the top of the KLA were involved," said Đurić.

"Too much time has passed, and still there's no justice for the victims nor the calming of inter-ethnic relations in Kosovo. 15 years is too long, but war crimes do not fall under the statute of limitations and we believe that those responsible for the most brutal and the most monstrous crimes in the former Yugoslavia, and they unfortunately happened in Kosovo and Metohija as well, must be brought to justice."

Asked to comment on Williamson's claim that a handful of people were involved in the organ trafficking Đurić said that "legal qualifications should be discussed by relevant judicial authorities, but there is no doubt that in Kosovo there was widespread, systematic and ethnically motivated persecution of Serb and non-Albanian population and this truth that remains inscribed in...