Getting message of their brother´s death Photo: Azir Jasari
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The Pogrom
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With the NATO invasion, UCK (KLA) divisions occupied all of Kosovo. Then a systematic destruction of almost all settlements of the Serbs, the Roma and other minorities started, and the people were driven out. The expulsions almost always followed the same procedure. An armed troop, often in UCK (KLA) uniforms, forced their way into the houses of Serbs, Roma, Gorans and Jews with the words, "You have half an hour. Then you are gone or dead." |
This procedure had some variations: sometimes a person was beaten with an iron bar or was shot immediately, sometimes houses were burned down right away or young women were raped in front of their family, sometimes a hand grenade was thrown into the building, sometimes a son was kidnapped. The message, however, was always clear: out - and never come back. Often this was said as well, "There is no place for you gypsies in Kosovo!" |
A few examples out of thousands 18 June 1999, Prizren: A 70-year old Rom is found tied to a chair shortly after he was tortured to death. Middle of June 1999, Vitani: "They hit my mother on the head with a pistol. She started to bleed and collapsed. While one of them started to abuse my mother, the other began to grope me while holding his knife to my throat. I screamed that I was still a virgin. He closed my mouth with his hand, and then he raped me." August 1999: The Ashkali family R. had hid their Albanian neighbours from Arkan´s paramilitaries and so saved their lives. "Before they kill you, they have to kill us first," they had said to their neighbours. "When we walk out onto the street today," Tilman Zülich is told by the oldest son, "they show us the sign of cutting somebody´s throat." December 1999, near Djakovica: A severely injured Rom is found by Kfor troops on a country road. He had been almost beaten to death and shot in the back. January 2000, Decani: Two Roma are shot while guarding their possessions after an attempt to burn their house the night before. 4 May 2000, Vucitrin: A hand grenade is thrown into the home of Bayram Z., who took in two Roma families that had returned. When he went outside to check, they fired on him with a machine gun. 3 July 2000, Klina: A hand grenade is thrown into a Roma home. This is the second such attack on this family. 3 August 2000, Mali Alas: A grenade, fastened to the fence of their property, kills three Roma. 5 September 2000, Prizren: A Rom is stabbed by an Albanian. 18 September 2000, Pristina: An Albanian with a Kalaschnikov opens fire on three Roma. One Rom dies, the two others are severely injured. The murderer escapes into the barracks of Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), the successor organisation of the UCK (KLA). 20 September 2000: A hand grenade explodes in front of a school building with 50 Roma children inside. 29 September 2000, Lipljan: A grenade explodes in the yard of a Roma home. Sources: OSZE, UNMIK Pristina, GfbV, UNHCR, AFP |
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