A painful wait to bury Kosovo's war

A painful wait to bury Kosovo's war victims
Remains of missing massacre victims killed during the 1998-99 conflict finally given a proper burial by their families.

Valerie Plesch | 14 May 2015 08:10 GMT | War & Conflict, Europe, Serbia

[Share via Facebook] 7 [Share via Twitter] 64 [Share via Reddit] All Social

Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker
[Email] [Print] [Send Feedback]

A young boy attends the reburial ceremony of war victims in the village of Cikatova e Vjeter on April 17, 2015 [Valeria Plesch/Al Jazeera]

Pristina, Kosovo - For 16 years in one small village in Kosovo's central region, the relatives of missing war victims visited empty graves.

Some had photographs, some did not. But it was at least a place where they could bring flowers, talk to the picture, and mourn the loss of a loved one whose body had not been found.

"We waited for a long time - 16 years," said 62-year-old Habib Morina.

Morina's brother, uncle, and cousins were killed in the early hours of April 17, 1999, in the village of Cikatova e Vjeter, allegedly by Serbian security forces, during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo.

"We knew they were dead. But we wanted to know where the bodies were," Morina said from a tent in the capital Pristina.

Ethnic-Serb President Slobodan Milosevic's forces cracked down on separatist ethnic-Albanian rebels and their civilian supporters in the late 1990s. The conflict in Kosovo killed about 13,000 people, most of them ethnic Albanians.

By the time the war came to an end after 78 days of NATO air strikes, which drove out Milosevic's military, police and paramilitary forces, an estimated 4,500 people were missing.

Another relative, 48-year-old Zylfije Morina, also lost her husband when he was killed in the same village. His body disappeared as well.

"It was very hard. It was even harder when we used to visit their empty graves," she said.

The Morina family has waited since that fateful day to receive news that the remains of missing relatives had been found and a DNA or blood sample match had been made.

Last fall, they finally received the news and began making preparations for a proper reburial.

They chose April 17, 2015, the 16th anniversary of the massacre in Cikatova e Vjeter, as the day for the ceremony.
Soldiers from the Kosovo Security Force carry the coffins of the identified victims on the day of their reburial [Valerie Plesch/Al Jazeera]

Habib Morina and his 29-year-old son, Behar, travelled to Kosovo from the US state of California, where they have lived as refugees since June 1999. They had come to join other relatives to finally bury the remains of 19 war victims from the Morina family who were found in a mass grave in Serbia last year.

Prenkë Gjetaj, head of the Kosovo government's commission on missing persons, said to date 900 bodies had been found in mass graves in Serbia and transported to Kosovo. His office is responsible for coordinating with local and international partners on the process for finding missing war victims.

Gjetaj said last year the remains of 54 war victims, including those from the Morina family, were found in one mass grave in Rudnica, Serbia.

"Everything was done in order to hide the truth, the tracks of the crime," Gjetaj said, describing how the army moved bodies of war victims from Kosovo to unidentified locations in Serbia, where many still lay hidden.

According to the commission, there are 1,650 people still missing from the war period.

More than 10,000 people had been killed and Gjetaj admitted the process of finding the missing is long and difficult, but, he said, "we must do it".

Hundreds of people from the village of Cikatova e Vjeter paid their final respects to victims killed during the 1998-1999 war [Valerie Plesch/Al Jazeera]

With the help of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) - created in 1996 to help resolve the fate of those missing from the conflicts in the former Republic of Yugoslavia - blood samples from Kosovo's war victims were analysed.

In an effort to show the country the missing war victims are not forgotten, this year, the government launched the country's first "Missing Persons Week", scheduled to coincide with the commemoration of the April 27, 1999 massacre in Meja, considered to be the worst massacre of the conflict.

A monument dedicated to the 1,650 still missing was unveiled recently in the garden of Kosovo's parliament.

"To mark this date, we had activities for a week, by visiting family members, the places where the crimes took place, memorials, as a sign of honour, as a sign to show the people that we are still committed and working on shedding light on the fate of their most loved ones," said Gjetaj.

A staff member from Pristina’s Department of Forensic Medicine shows relatives of a war victim the skull that was found in a mass grave in Serbia [Valerie Plesch/Al Jazeera]

Driton Morina, 34, remembers the sweater his father wore before he was killed. The sweater, along with other tattered clothing found with his father's remains, was stiff from the dirt and dried mud.

Morina refused to bury the clothes with his father's remains because he wanted to keep them as evidence for future generations that the crime happened. He said he hopes that one day they will be shown in a museum in Kosovo.

"The strange thing is that this happened in Europe, this happened in the Balkans, and the strange thing is that the new government in the country that committed these crimes is not apologising, is not saying even sorry for the crimes that they have done," Morina said.

The day before the reburial, close relatives of the Morina family came to Pristina's main hospital to sign the paperwork that they've officially collected the remains, which were laid out in coffins and draped with the Albanian flag.

Some family members insisted on seeing the bones and clothing found in the grave.

"Usually ... we prefer for families not to open [the caskets], and to remember them as they were," said Arsim Gerxaliu, head of the Department of Forensic Medicine under the Ministry of Justice.

"But some families insist on seeing the remains - the bones - and we cannot stop them because they have a right to check the bones," Gerxaliu explained.

Forty-seven members of Gerxaliu's family were killed in the war, and he said it is his responsibility to bring the remains of other war victims back to their families.

He said he had travelled to Serbia 97 times since 1999 to search for and exhume mass graves and is planning another trip this month.

"This number, 1,650, is still a problem until we find all of them, this problem will continue to exist," said Kushtrim Gata, from the missing persons commission.

For Shqipron Morina, who was five years old when his father was killed in the Cikatova e Vjeter massacre, and for his family, the return of the remains from the mass grave brought relief.

"Now we have the real place, we have the bodies in the grave," he said after burying his father.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 2:

Menunggu menyakitkan untuk mengubur korban perang Kosovo
Sisa-sisa hilang korban pembantaian tewas selama konflik 1998-99 akhirnya diberi penguburan yang layak oleh keluarga mereka. Valerie Plesch | 14 Mei 2015 08:10 WIB | Perang & Konflik, Eropa, Serbia [Share via Facebook] 7 [Share via Twitter] 64 [Share melalui Reddit] Semua Sosial Dengarkan halaman ini menggunakan ReadSpeaker [Email] [Print] [Beri Tanggapan] Seorang anak laki-laki menghadiri upacara penguburan korban perang di desa Cikatova e vjeter di April 17, 2015 [Valeria Plesch / Al Jazeera] Pristina, Kosovo - Selama 16 tahun di salah satu desa kecil di wilayah tengah Kosovo, kerabat hilang korban perang mengunjungi makam kosong. Beberapa memiliki foto-foto, beberapa tidak. Tapi itu setidaknya tempat di mana mereka bisa membawa bunga, berbicara dengan gambar, dan meratapi kehilangan orang yang dicintai yang tubuhnya belum ditemukan. "Kami menunggu untuk waktu yang lama - 16 tahun," kata 62-tahun- tua Habib Morina. Morina saudara, paman, dan sepupu tewas pada jam-jam awal tanggal 17 April 1999, di desa Cikatova e vjeter, diduga oleh pasukan keamanan Serbia, selama perang 1998-1999 di Kosovo. "Kami tahu mereka sudah mati. Tapi kami ingin tahu di mana mayat-mayat itu, "kata Morina dari tenda di ibukota Pristina. pasukan Presiden Etnis-Serbia Slobodan Milosevic menindak pemberontak etnis Albania-separatis dan pendukung sipil mereka di akhir 1990-an. Konflik di Kosovo menewaskan sekitar 13.000 orang, sebagian besar dari mereka etnis Albania. Pada saat perang berakhir setelah 78 hari dari serangan NATO udara, yang mengusir militer Milosevic, polisi dan pasukan paramiliter, diperkirakan 4.500 orang yang hilang. relatif lain, 48 tahun Zylfije Morina, juga kehilangan suaminya ketika ia tewas di desa yang sama. Tubuhnya menghilang juga. "Hal itu sangat sulit. Itu bahkan lebih sulit ketika kita digunakan untuk mengunjungi kuburan mereka kosong," katanya. The Morina keluarga telah menunggu sejak hari yang menentukan untuk menerima berita bahwa jasad sanak saudara yang hilang telah ditemukan dan pertandingan DNA atau sampel darah telah dibuat. Musim gugur yang lalu, mereka akhirnya menerima berita dan mulai membuat persiapan untuk penguburan yang layak. Mereka memilih April 17, 2015, ulang tahun ke-16 dari pembantaian di Cikatova e vjeter, sebagai hari untuk upacara. Tentara dari Pasukan Keamanan Kosovo membawa peti mati korban diidentifikasi pada hari mereka penguburan [Valerie Plesch / Al Jazeera] Habib Morina dan anak 29 tahun lamanya, Behar, perjalanan ke Kosovo dari negara bagian California, di mana mereka telah hidup sebagai pengungsi sejak Juni 1999. Mereka datang untuk bergabung kerabat lainnya untuk akhirnya mengubur sisa-sisa 19 korban perang dari keluarga Morina yang ditemukan di sebuah kuburan massal di Serbia tahun lalu. Prenkë Gjetaj, kepala Komisi Kosovo pemerintah tentang orang hilang, kata sampai saat 900 mayat telah ditemukan di kuburan massal di Serbia dan diangkut ke Kosovo. Kantornya bertanggung jawab untuk berkoordinasi dengan mitra lokal dan internasional pada proses untuk menemukan korban perang yang hilang. Gjetaj mengatakan tahun lalu sisa-sisa dari 54 korban perang, termasuk mereka yang berasal dari keluarga Morina, ditemukan di satu kuburan massal di Rudnica, Serbia. " Semuanya dilakukan untuk menyembunyikan kebenaran, jejak kejahatan, "kata Gjetaj, menggambarkan bagaimana tentara pindah mayat korban perang dari Kosovo ke lokasi tak dikenal di Serbia, di mana banyak masih awam tersembunyi. Menurut komisi itu, ada 1.650 orang masih hilang dari periode perang. Lebih dari 10.000 orang telah tewas dan Gjetaj mengakui proses pencarian yang hilang adalah panjang dan sulit, tetapi, katanya, "kita harus melakukannya". Ratusan orang dari desa Cikatova e vjeter penghormatan terakhir mereka kepada para korban tewas selama perang 1998-1999 [Valerie Plesch / Al Jazeera] Dengan bantuan Komisi Internasional Orang Hilang (ICMP) - diciptakan pada tahun 1996 untuk membantu menyelesaikan nasib mereka yang hilang dari konflik di bekas Republik Yugoslavia -. sampel darah dari korban perang Kosovo dianalisis Dalam upaya untuk menunjukkan negara korban perang hilang tidak dilupakan, tahun ini, pemerintah meluncurkan negara pertama "Orang Hilang Week", dijadwalkan bertepatan dengan peringatan dari 27 April, 1999 pembantaian di Meja, dianggap sebagai pembantaian terburuk konflik. Sebuah monumen yang didedikasikan untuk 1.650 masih hilang diresmikan baru-baru ini di taman parlemen Kosovo. "Untuk menandai tanggal ini, kami memiliki kegiatan untuk seminggu, oleh anggota keluarga mengunjungi, tempat di mana kejahatan terjadi, peringatan, sebagai tanda kehormatan, sebagai tanda untuk menunjukkan orang-orang bahwa kita masih berkomitmen dan bekerja pada shedding cahaya pada nasib orang yang mereka paling dicintai, "kata Gjetaj. Seorang anggota staf dari Departemen Pristina ini Kedokteran Forensik menunjukkan kerabat dari korban perang tengkorak yang ditemukan di sebuah kuburan massal di Serbia [Valerie Plesch / Al Jazeera] Driton Morina, 34, mengingat sweater ayahnya mengenakan sebelum dia terbunuh. Sweater, bersama dengan pakaian compang-camping lain yang ditemukan dengan sisa-sisa ayahnya, kaku dari kotoran dan lumpur kering. Morina menolak untuk mengubur pakaian dengan sisa-sisa ayahnya karena ingin menjaga mereka sebagai bukti untuk generasi mendatang bahwa kejahatan terjadi. Ia mengatakan ia berharap bahwa suatu hari mereka akan ditampilkan di sebuah museum di Kosovo. "Yang aneh adalah bahwa ini terjadi di Eropa, ini terjadi di Balkan, dan hal yang aneh adalah bahwa pemerintah baru di negara yang melakukan kejahatan ini tidak meminta maaf, tidak mengatakan bahkan maaf atas kejahatan yang telah mereka lakukan, "kata Morina. Sehari sebelum penguburan, kerabat dekat dari keluarga Morina datang ke rumah sakit utama Pristina untuk menandatangani dokumen bahwa mereka telah resmi mengumpulkan sisa-sisa , yang diletakkan di peti mati dan dibungkus dengan bendera Albania. Beberapa anggota keluarga bersikeras melihat tulang dan pakaian yang ditemukan di kuburan. "Biasanya ... kita lebih suka untuk keluarga tidak membuka [peti mati], dan untuk mengingat mereka karena mereka, "kata Arsim Gerxaliu, kepala Departemen Kedokteran Forensik di bawah Departemen Kehakiman. "Tapi beberapa keluarga bersikeras melihat sisa-sisa - tulang - dan kita tidak bisa menghentikan mereka karena mereka memiliki hak untuk memeriksa tulang, "Gerxaliu menjelaskan. Empat puluh tujuh anggota keluarga Gerxaliu tewas dalam perang, dan dia mengatakan itu adalah tanggung jawabnya untuk membawa sisa-sisa korban perang lainnya kembali ke keluarga mereka. Dia mengatakan dia telah melakukan perjalanan ke Serbia 97 kali sejak 1999 untuk mencari untuk menggali kuburan massal dan dan merencanakan perjalanan lain bulan ini. "Jumlah ini, 1.650, masih masalah sampai kita menemukan mereka semua, masalah ini akan terus ada," kata Kushtrim Gata, dari komisi orang hilang. Untuk Shqipron Morina, yang berusia lima tahun saat ayahnya dibunuh dalam pembantaian Cikatova e vjeter, dan untuk keluarganya, kembalinya sisa-sisa dari kuburan massal membawa bantuan. "Sekarang kita telah tempat yang nyata, kita memiliki tubuh dalam kuburan, "katanya setelah mengubur ayahnya.