Even though 26 years have passed since the Recak massacre, Serbia continues to deny the genocide committed there by Milosevic's army forces. Senior Serbian officials, starting with President Aleksandar Vučić, have consistently denied the massacre, calling it a "staged" and "lie", even though 45 Albanian civilians were killed there. For scholars in Kosovo, the massacre of January 15, 1999 marked a major turning point in Kosovo's history. In statements to Kosova Press, they emphasize that the Recak massacre is a serious crime against humanity.
"Even Pashič, who was the leader of Serbia much earlier than this Vučić, has denied the crimes committed by Serbs in Kosovo. We also have the denial of the crimes committed by Serbs in Kosovo in World War II. Ranković and Tito deny it too. And of course the latter are complicit in the crimes in Kosovo, because they were part of Milosevic's criminal government 26 years ago and of course they deny it, but the facts are different, the arguments are different. Because it is precisely these who committed all these crimes and this massacre of January 15 in Recak. In their Serbian policy, it is always a practice that they want to cover up the fact with lies, with falsification.
Bezaraj emphasizes that what happened in the village of Reçak was carried out with a clear plan by Serbia.
"The Reçak massacre is one of the worst massacres that has occurred by the Serbian regime in Kosovo. This massacre was carried out completely on the plans that Serbia has always had against Kosovo and against the Albanians in Kosovo. Historically, it is documented that the crimes that Serbia has committed are planned. They are not just there and the Reçak massacre is one of those that was carried out by Serbia... Add to this that both the intellectual and the religious-religious part were involved because the blessing of these crimes was given by the church, which is a unique case in the world that has never happened for something like this, because they involve the church as something national", says the researcher.
Director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, Ehat Miftaraj, says that those who ordered the killing of Albanian civilians have never been punished.
"We have a verdict in The Hague, which convicts insignificant people regarding the Recak massacre. But we as IKL have repeatedly said, it is true that it is very true to prosecute the perpetrators of these criminal acts, but if we had an institutional approach, if we had a much more comprehensive approach, we all know, but the Special Prosecution also knows that the massacres that occurred in Kosovo during the war are clearly known who was the police commander, the commander of the military forces, the commander of the paramilitary forces, meaning the paramilitary criminal groups that committed the crimes in Kosovo. And if we had more indictments that affect the chain of command, in a way the accountability and responsibility of the persons who gave orders in these massacres would increase," Miftari declares.
Amer Alija from the Humanitarian Law Center in Kosovo also says that justice has not yet been provided for the victims of Recak.
"Little or no justice has been provided for the civilian victims who were killed 26 years ago in the Recak massacre. Of course, one of the problems or challenges here is the lack of cooperation between Kosovo and Serbia and the persons who committed these crimes are not found in Kosovo. Recently, with the entry into force of the Law on Trial in Absence, the Special Prosecution has filed several indictments in absentia and last year, in December of last year, we also had the first verdict in absentia for war crimes committed in the Municipality of Shtime. Other indictments related to the Recak massacre have not been processed by the courts of Kosovo," he says.
In the early morning of January 15, 1999, children, adults and the elderly were brutally killed, among them an elderly woman, whose body has not yet been found. The serious incident in Recak prompted an international response, with NATO deciding to attack Serbian military and police targets - a bombing campaign that lasted 78 days. Its end was marked on June 10, 1999, when United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 was adopted.
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