Kosovo remembered today one of the most horrific massacres committed by Serbian forces in Kosovo: that in the village of Pastasella in the Municipality of Rahovec, where 106 Albanian civilians were killed.
Tributes were paid to the 26th anniversary of the massacre. Acting Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, said the massacre had exposed the brutality and inhumane methods of Serbian forces during the recent war in Kosovo. According to her, the truth of this tragedy cannot be denied or forgotten, and it is therefore necessary to ensure that the crimes committed do not go unpunished.
“What makes this massacre one of the most horrific in Kosovo is the brutality and inhumane methods used by Serbian forces. They tortured Albanians, divided them into groups, killed children in front of their parents and grandparents, and then executed the adults. It was a clear strategy to cause terror and extermination, to inhumanely torture civilians so that the scars of war would never be erased. The massacres committed in Kosovo are evidence of a genocidal strategy planned by the Serbian state. We are here, not only to commemorate, but to testify and to demand justice for the innocent victims who were killed, massacred, forcibly disappeared and expelled from their lands simply because they were Albanian. The truth of this tragedy cannot be denied, nor forgotten. We are here to keep it alive in our collective memory. We have a duty to ensure that the crimes committed do not go unpunished and the war criminals "To face justice. Even 26 years after the event, there are still family members searching for the bodies of their loved ones who are missing, as many of the victims' bodies were burned," said Haxhiu.
Xhevahire Morina is the mother of Zaimi, a young man killed in the Pastasella massacre. On the anniversary of the tragedy, she returns to bitter memories and recounts the last moment she saw her son before he was killed, the words he said to her and the void left behind: "We talked, we were happy. I told him, good mother, don't go there, he was going downstairs to school and not to live there. He came and took his boots and put them on, good mother, go to your friends, there is school and I had the last word, he didn't say anything anymore, he just walked and I didn't see him again. I didn't see him until I went to Rahovec, I begged him not to leave him in the garbage... then we understood".
"May he rest in peace, and for him we the living are enjoying freedom, and we should all be grateful," she said.
13 people survived the massacre, while none of the Serbian criminals have been convicted for it. (A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
MUND TE LEXONI GJITHASHTU
