Istraživanje UNS-a o ubijenim i otetim novinarima na Kosovu

21. 08. 2018.

Autor: Jelena L. Petković Izvor: UNS

Dve decenije od kidnapovanja Perenića i Slavuja: Za istragu ima putokaza, ali je ona zatvorena

Iako su neposredno nakon otmice novinara Radio Prištine Ranka Perenića i Đura Slavuja 21. avgusta 1998. godine, u Orahovcu viđeni njihov automobil i novinarska oprema, iz policije i tužilaštva nema zvaničnih podataka da je iko saslušan. Čak ni članovi njihovih porodica nisu pozvani da daju izjave.

Danas se navršava dvadeset godina od kako su Ranko Perenić i Đuro Slavuj otišli na radni zadatak sa koga se nikada nisu vratili. Dve decenije, njihove porodice, prijatelji i kolege, znaju da su oni krenuli iz Orahovca ka manastiru Zočište da razgovaraju sa monasima tek oslobođenim iz zarobljeništva OVK. To je poslednja vest o njima.

U nastavku je ovaj tekst preveden na engleski jezik. Please find below english translation of this article.

- Ne mogu da verujem da 20 godina nema nikakve informacije, ništa. Ranko je taj dan otišao da radi, da zaradi za našu porodicu i nikada se nije vratio. Tužna sam, nesrećna, ali me još više od toga guši ta nebriga ljudi, nedostatak humanosti. Zar je moguće da ih se sete samo jednom godišnje? Nas sve ove godine niko od nadleženih nije zvao, nije pitao ni gde smo, ni kako smo, a onda smo čuli da je istraga zatvorena. To ne mogu da shvatim i tražim i ne odustajem od zahteva da se istraga ponovo otvori - kaže za UNS Rankova supruga, Snežana Perenić. 

Prošle godine, porodica Perenić je saznala da je EULEKS, misija vladavine prava na Kosovu, zatvorila istragu još 2013. godine. U obrazloženju bivši tužilac EULEKS-a Maurico Salustro navodi i da su "na osnovu dostupnih informacija, dana 21. avgusta 1998. godine žrtve otišle u Veliku Hoču kako bi izvršile radni zadatak. Na putu nazad presrela ih je naoružana grupa ljudi koji su nosili obeležje OVK, zapretila oružjem i odvela ih u nepoznatom pravcu". Na kraju, zaključak - istraga je zatvorena.

Udruženje novinara Srbije je više puta kontaktiralo misiju OEBS-a u Beogradu gde je Salustro sada zaposlen, zvanično upućujući zahtev za razgovor. Odgovor nikada nismo dobili.

S obzirom na to da ni tužioci istražitelji i policija nikada nisu saslušali porodicu i kolege Perenića i Slavuja, što je uobičajena procedura u svim istragama, logičan zaključak je da je nije ni bilo.

A ubrzo nakon što je UNS 2016. pokrenuo novu fazu istraživačkog rada u okviru Dosijea o kidnapovanim i ubijenim novinarima na Kosovu, čije sudbine i okolnosti otmice i nestanka, ubice i nalagodavci najstrašnijih zločina do danas nisu poznati - došli smo do podataka za koje smatramo da mogu biti putokaz za istragu.

UNS je saznao da je novinar Njujork Tajmsa, Majk O’Konor nakon otmice, video vozilo u kome su Perenić i Slavuj kidnapovani.

- Igrom slučaja video sam izveštaj Vojske Jugoslavije o prisluškivanju OVK. U danu kada su kidnapovani Ranko Perenić i Đuro Slavuj, u tom izveštaju zabeleženo je: "Dva paketa su donesena do Bele Crkve" (naselje u Orahovcu). Odmah sam tamo poslao novinara Njujork Tajmsa Majka O’Konora. Kada se vratio pitao me je za serijski broj njihovog diktafona. Znao sam broj, jer sam ga lično kupio. Video je "soni" koji su Ranko i Đuro poneli na teren.  O’Konor je video i plavu Zastavu 128 i u njoj je bio diktafon. Pitao je komandante OVK gde su ljudi iz automobila, a oni su odgovorili da ne znaju ništa, da su sve tako zatekli - ispričao je za UNS Milivoje Miki Mihajlović, nekadašnji urednik Radio Prištine i rukovodilac Medija centra u Prištini, ključnog izvora informacija za sve medije 1998. i 1999. godine na Kosovu.

Šon Berns, šef američke diplomatske posmatračke misije, koji je te 1998. godine boravio na Kosovu, za UNS je kazao da je leta te godine, u regiji u kojoj su kidnapovani Perenić i Slavuj, najviše uticaja imao Fatmir Ljimaj, da se taj prostor preklapao sa uticajem OVK iz zone Paštrik koja je bila koncentrisana u Prizrenu, kao i da su do te lokacije dolazile i jedinice pod kontrolom Ramuša Haradinaja.

* Preuzimanje delova ili celokupnog teksta je dozvoljeno uz obavezno navođenje izvora

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Two Decades from Perenić and Slavuj Abductions: Investigation Road Signs are There, but the Road is Closed

Even though immediately after the 21st of August 1998 abductions of Radio Priština's journalists Ranko Perenić and Djuro Slavuj their car and equipment were spotted in Orahovac, there is no official feedback from the police force nor the prosecutor's office whether any witnesses or potential perpetrators had been brought in for questioning. Even the members of their families have never been questioned nor deposed.

Today, we commemorate twenty years since Ranko Perenić and Djuro Slavuj departed for their work assignment and never came back. For two decades now, their families, friends and colleagues have known that they departed Orahovac for the Zočište Monastery to speak to monks just released from KLA captivity. This is the very last piece of news about them.

- I cannot believe that there has been no information, nothing for 20 years. Ranko went to work that day, to provide bread and butter for his family, and he never came back. I am sad, unhappy, but what is smothering me more than anything is the indifference of people, the lack of humanity. Is it possible that they remember them only once a year? None of the authorities contacted us all these years, they did not ask where we were nor how we have been, and then we heard that the investigation was closed. I cannot comprehend that. I am asking for the investigation to be reopened and I will never give up on that request - Ranko's wife Snežana Perenić confided to the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS). 

Last year, the Perenić family learnt that EULEX, the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, already closed the investigation in 2013. In the reasoning behind such a decision, former EULEX Prosecutor Maurizio Salustro stated, among other arguments, that "on the basis of information available, the victims went to Velika Hoča on August 21, 1998 in order to perform a work assignment. On their way back, they were intercepted by an armed group of individuals wearing KLA insignia, who threatened them using their fire arms and took them in an unknown direction". In the end, the conclusion - investigation closed. 

Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) has contacted the OSCE Mission in Belgrade several times, where Mr. Salustro is now employed, by sending interview request letters. We have never received any answer.

Given that neither the prosecutors nor the investigators nor the police have ever interviewed the family and colleagues of Perenić and Slavuj, which is a common procedure in all investigations, the logical conclusion is that there was no investigation at all to begin with.

In 2016, UNS initiated a new investigative research phase within its Dossier on Abducted and Murdered Journalists in Kosovo, whose fates and circumstances are not known to date, including who murdered them and who instructed the perpetrators to commit these atrocious crimes. Shortly after the aforementioned new phase began, UNS came across information that we believe could be used as investigation road signs.

UNS learnt that the New York Times reporter Mike O'Connor saw the vehicle in which Perenić and Slavuj were taken away after the abduction had happened.

- By coincidence, I saw one of the Yugoslav Army reports on the wiretapping of the KLA. On the day when Ranko Perenić and Djuro Slavuj were abducted, the report read: "Two packages were brought to Bela Crkva" (settlement in Orahovac). I immediately sent the New York Times journalist Mike O'Connor there. When he returned, he asked me for the serial number of their voice recorder. I knew the number, because I personally bought the said voice recorder. He saw the "Sony" voice recorder that Ranko and Djuro took to the field. O'Connor also saw a blue "Zastava 128" vehicle with the mentioned voice recorder still in it. He asked the KLA commanders where the people from the car were, and they replied that they did not know anything, that they found the car as is - Milivoje Miki Mihajlović, the former Radio Priština Editor and the Priština Media Center Manager, a key information source for all Kosovo-based media outlets in 1998 and 1999, told to UNS.

Shaun Byrnes, the Head of the US Kosovo Diplomatic Observer mission, who stayed in Kosovo in 1998, told UNS that, in the year when Perenić and Slavuj were abducted, Fatmir Limaj had the most influence in the area they went missing in. Moreover, he stated that this was an area of conflicting influences with Pastrik-based KLA headquartered in Prizren also exerting its authority. In addition, this location was also accessed by units controlled by Ramush Haradinaj.

 

Tekst je rezultat istraživanja novinarskog tima Udruženja novinara Srbije o ubijenim i nestalim novinarima na Kosovu. U okviru postojećeg Dosijea o ubijenim i nestalim novinarima od 1998. do 2005. godine, objavićemo nova saznanja kako bi se javnost detaljno informisala, a domaći i međunarodni pravosudni organi podstakli da pronađu i kazne počinioce ovih zločina. Istraživanje se sprovodi u okviru projekta Udruženja novinara Srbije podržanog od strane Ministarstva kulture i informisanja Republike Srbije. Stavovi izneti u tekstu ne odražavaju nužno stavove i mišljenja organa koji je projekat podržao.