UNS info

08. 03. 2018.

Author: Jelena L. Petković ???source???: UNS

Family of kidnapped journalist Ranko Perenic in shock: Still waiting for answer to an appeal on closure of the investigation

Not even three months after she appealed to the EULEX decision to close the investigation into the kidnapping of her husband Ranko, Snezana Perenić did not receive an answer.

EULEX closed the investigation on October 23, 2013, but only informed the family in December last year, at a time when the investigation documentation had already been forwarded to the Kosovo Special Prosecutor's Office.

Snezana Perenic was not called by any institution to testify, nor did she had any knowledge that the investigation was being conducted.

That is why she was in total shock, when along with the notification from EULEX, she received a statement from the prosecutor Maurizio Salustro that her husband Ranko, a RTV Pristina employee, was taken by KLA members who threatened him with weapons, and took him in an unknown direction. And that she has three days to appeal to the EULEX decision on closing the investigation. Now, for months, there is no answer back.

- I'm just desperate. I still have not recovered from the shock I experienced. I'd like someone to inform me that the investigation has been re-opened. I do not want to end on this, but I do not know who to adress to. It's not logical, that they give me three days for an appeal, and then three months they dont reply - says Snezana Perenić for the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS).

A notification from Eulex was received through the Ministry of Justice of Serbia and the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office. The Ministry answered to UNS thay they did not receive a response from the Office of the EU Special Representative in Prishtina on the appeal sent by Snezana Perenic.

The investigation of the kidnapping of Ranko Perenic was transferred from Eulex to the Special Prosecutor's Office of Kosovo on November 3, 2017. Eulex answered to UNS to seek all the information at this (new) address. They also added that they were informed that UNS already received a response from the Special Prosecutor's Office of Kosovo. However, the Prosecutor's Office did not responded to our inquiries.

To make a complaint, Snezana Perenic was helped by Savo Strbac, president of Documentation and Information Center "Veritas". For the UNS, Strbac clarifies that the situation in the judiciary is such that the appeal is not time-bound.

- A three months period in not much in the judiciary, and in the Balkans, the proceedings last for years, so this is nothing unusual. For sure, Snezana Perenic will have to receive a decision on her appeal. What she could do now, is to send an urgent appeal addressed to the Chief Prosecutor in order to see what happened to her complaint. Obviously, we are facing here with two different legal systems and the fact that diplomatic mail is used, and not directly sent from address to a home address - Strbac stresses.

Radio Prishtina journalists Ranko Perenic and Djuro Slavuj were kidnapped on August 21, 1998 while performing a journalistic task, driving Zastava 128 to the Sveti Vraci monastery in Zociste to make a story about the return of the abducted monks. Since then, until December 2017, there was no single information about their fate.

The explanation of the prosecutor Maurizio Salustro from 2013 decision, states that "on the basis of the available information, on August 21, 1998, the victims went to Velika Hoca in order to perform a work-related task. On their way back, they were intercepted by an armed group of people wearing the KLA markings who threatened them with weapons, and took them in an unknown direction." He adds that "although it is probable that the status of victims as missing persons after many years indicates that they are no longer alive, there is an absolute lack of evidence regarding what happened. Moreover, the identity of the alleged kidnappers is unknown, and there are no reasonable prospects that their identities will be revealed through additional investigative measures. There are no investigative conclusions suggesting further investigative actions ... Therefore, the police report must be rejected."

Although Ranko Perenic and Djuro Slavuj were kidnapped together, the Slavuj family did not get any notice.

While investigating the murders and kidnappings of journalists, in a conversation with retired US diplomat Shaun Byrnes, UNS uncovered publicly unknown information, that in that region where Perenic and Slavuj disappeared, at that time, Fatmir Limaj had the most influence. Also, that the units under the control of Ramush Haradinaj were coming to that location.

In a conversation with Milivoje Miki Mihajlovic, former editor of Radio Prishtina and the head of the Media Center in Prishtina, we came to knowledge that after the abduction of Perenic and Slavuj, the reporter of the New York Times, Mike O'Connor, saw Zastava 128 that (Perenic i Slavuj) were driving and their Dictaphone inside of the car, in Bela Crkva, a village in Orahovac. 

In February, for the sixth time was pulled down and removed a memorial plaque in memory of the abducted Radio Prishtina journalists - Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic. Around the place where the plate stood, a large amount of bones, most likely of animal origin, was dumped. Since 2012 the Journalists' Association of Serbia, puts a memorial plaque on which it is written in Serbian and Albanian language: "On August 21, 1998, our colleagues, journalists Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic were abducted here. We are looking for them." At the place where were last seen Slavuj and Perenic, next week, we'll set the memorial plaque for the seventh time.

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