Vulin: Planned pogrom must be punished

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy Aleksandar Vulin has said at a solemn meeting commemorating the March 2004 pogrom of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija that the planned and organized crime has to be punished.

The Albanian violence that took place on March 17-18, 2004, when over 4,000 Serbs were expelled from their homes, was not a result of an accidental outburst of hatred, just as the powerful armored transporters of world's biggest armies were not passing by the burning Serbian monastery of the Holy Virgin of Lyevish by coincidence, Vulin said in Belgrade late on Tuesday.

We are gathered here tonight to remember those who lost their lives and their health, homes and freedom, said retired French Army Colonel Jacques Hogard, who witnessed the pogroms.

Day of remembrance for the victims of the pogrom is a condition for the future, said Hogard, who published a book titled "Europe Died in Pristina".

Shocking footages of Serbian houses, churches and monasteries razed to the ground were screened as part of a special program during the solemn meeting at the National Theatre in Belgrade.

Photo Tanjug Video