Still no punishment for murder of Serb boys in Gorazdevac

GORAZDEVAC - Serbia marks the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attack in which two Serb children were murdered and four more were wounded on the bank of the Bistrica River in Gorazdevac near Pec, north-west Kosovo-Metohija (KiM).

On August 13, 2003, ethnic Albanian extremists and separatists hidden in the bushes shot from the back at children and young adults roasting corn on the riverbank.

Ivan Jovovic, aged 19, and Pantelija Dakic, aged 13, were killed in the attack, while Marko Bogicevic, 12, Dragana Srbljak, 13, Bogdan Bukumiric, 15, and Djordje Ugrenovic, 20, were seriously wounded.

The shots were fired from the direction of the ethnic Albanian village of Zahac. The terrorists fired 90 bullets. After the incident, UNMIK released that a number of unidentified individuals hiding in the bushes opened fire from Kalashnikov rifles at around fifty boys and girls spending their summer holidays in the area. At the moment of the attack, the children were bathing in the river.

The crime in Gorazdevac was condemned by heads of UNMIK and KFOR and officials of the EU, U.S., France, Russia, Kosovo and former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, who called for a meeting of the UN Security Council.

Representatives of the international community promised that they would turn every stone and find the individuals who committed this crime. A total of 11 years has passed since and nobody has yet been held accountable for the murders and wounding of children.

The Kosovo police released that they interrogated 75 witnesses and searched around 100 houses during the investigation but to no result.

Late in 2010, EULEX investigators interrupted the investigation and it was only on February 9, 2011 that...