No mass graves in Kosovo
When foreign journalists came to Kosovo together with NATO troops, Western newspapers were filled maps indicating numerous mass graves into which bodies of thousands of Kosovar Albanians, allegedly massacred by Serbs, had been thrown. The Jakarta Post had written about it, too, at that time. After the journalists, there came a great number of forensic experts and criminologists, in search of evidence to support the statements used by leaders of NATO countries to justify the aggression against Yugoslavia.
Let us remind those who are in a hurry to forget that American Defense Secretary, William Cohen, as was reported in the media, stated on May 16 this year, i.e. during the attacks on Yugoslavia, that members of the Yugoslav armed forces had killed 100,000 Albanian men fit for war.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair personally pointed out in The Times on June 5, 1999 that the numbers of people having disappeared might be even greater. Then the Secretary of the Foreign Office, Jeff Hun, stated that about 10,000 people had been killed in more than 100 massacres, adding "the final figure may be even greater".
Western officials were simply competing in giving statements about hundreds of thousands of murdered Kosovar Albanians in an attempt to accuse the Serbs of genocide, as if the massacre of 100,000 persons and the hiding of their corpses were such a simple thing to do. And the journalists accepted it, repeating it in their reports from Kosovo while NATO bombs were killing innocent Yugoslav civilians and were shattering the country. These reports were accepted by the Indonesian media, too. And nobody had the courage to even doubt these horrible figures, and the horrible accusations of a nation, let alone to oppose them.
Yet again, let us remember something that is unwillingly admitted and is not receiving publicity these days, namely that after over four months of detailed and conscientious investigations in Kosovo, conducted by 20 teams of forensic experts, in cooperation with 500 professional criminologists from most developed countries of the world, a smaller number of bodies has been found.
The head of medical-research commission appointed by The Hague Tribunal, Spanish Medical Doctor Emilio Perez Pujol, has stated that there are no mass graves in Kosovo and that 187 bodies have been found. It had been previously announced that the largest mass grave had been found at Ljubenic, containing 350 bodies, which kept echoing in all the world's media.
However, only seven bodies were discovered in Ljubenic, accompanied by a statement that there were no mass grave at all. Similarly, in the Trepca mines, reportedly containing 700 bodies, the commission did not find a single body. As for the rest of the bodies found in Kosovo, the experts have been unable to determine the cause of death, namely whether they had been killed in battle or whether they had been victims of NATO bombardments.
It is based on such, obviously false, statements given by the highest officials of NATO countries, that the Tribunal for former Yugoslavia indicted Yugoslav leaders on May 22, 1999, disregarding judicial prudence. Now, that these horrible accusations have been proved totally unfounded, the international tribunal has been keeping silent for obvious political reasons, bearing in mind that the indictment of the Yugoslav leaders, too, has been politically motivated.
DUSAN STOJKOVIC
Charge d'Affaires a.i.
Yugoslav Embassy
Jakarta