Wednesday, May 26th, 1999

Few references on war crimes committed by Serbian forces in Kosovo

    Q: Dear FreeSerbia
Congratulations on an excellent and informative site. I do have a question to ask. Like many in the NATO countries who are opposed to the NATO war against Yugoslavia I am occasionally bothered by how few references I see in Yugoslav opposition sites (including the FreeSerbia site) and mailings, to war crimes committed by Serbian forces in Kosovo and in the wars resulting from the secessionist movements in Croatia and Bosnia.
Would wearing targets have helped the civilians in Sarajevo from being targeted by Serb gunners? Would it have helped those who became victims of the Skerbnica massacre?
End War. Open all Borders.

Tom, yahoo.com

    Dear friend,

    It would not be appropriate me speaking about other web sites created by the people that could be said as pro democratic orientated ones. All I can is refer to our own site, made by Other Voices team, and thereby try to answer your questions even in a more general aspect.

    I completely agree with you about the lack of information on the war crimes committed by Serbian forces in Kosovo. However, we are trying to pass all the news that are true and proved. Unfortunately, not many of the information coming from Kosovo are reliable, except the ones about the numbers of refugees and their camps.

    The latest information about the massacres toward the Albanians are not quite clear and proved, as well as many other information coming from Serbia. We are trying to pass all the news that are sure to be truth.

    Please, don't misunderstand me - it does not mean we think there are no massacres toward the Albanians. On contrary - we are quite aware of those situations. It's just that we want to be sure something is the truth before publishing that.

    The same is with the news we get from all over Serbia. First, we have to check them, be sure they are true, and then we publish them.

    Therefore, it happens we have more about what's happening in Serbia, than with the Albanian refugees. The massacres are the issues that we should be very cautious about. Right because of what you've said that NATO have some rumours about 43 new-found massacres. We won't publish any rumour, since it would only cause the confusion and would look like propaganda.

    Still, if it appears it is the truth that the massacres have been done lately (never to happen!), believe me, we'll be as fast as possible to set those sad news as the breaking ones.

    Nevertheless, the point of our web site are not the news, since we are not journalists, but (mostly) students. The news are there just for everyone to reach something he/she had no opportunity to, like the news coming from inside Serbia.

    The main task of our web site is to spread our views and opinions upon the Kosovo crisis, the views of the pro democratic orientated students of Serbia. The only opinions from Serbia braking through the western media nowadays are the ones coming from "our" regime. None is able to hear some vices other than those, some voices that are, I dare saying - reasonable and human, quite calm, though very worried as well.

    Acquainting with our opinions, appeals and estimations, one could easily notice we do worry about the Albanians a lot, we are scared about their future, we appeal to all the people to help, we ask for a help for all of us - the Albanians and the Serbs together.

    This is the tragedy of two nations - Albanian and Serb. The human catastrophe. The Albanians and the Serbs are on the same side, both are innocent, both are suffering, both are being killed.

    The murderers are on the other side. The selfish politicians that do not care about the human beings, sufferings, devastation, life, but only about their own position. Those people lead the world, straight to the abyss.

    As for the second part of your question, concerning the events in Bosnia and Croatia, the truth is that in these days we have almost no news nor data of that time on our site. It is mostly because of our web site project has started some while ago, after the present crisis began. During those previous crises few years ago, we were raising our voice in various ways as well, though not by web site. The circumstances inside Serbia of that time were quite different than the present ones.

    Again, I wouldn't dare talking about the sites other than our one, since I do not have reliable information about their possible news sets. However - I'm sure some of the opposition web sites had been made at that time as well, even the ones with the information of a kind you are referring to. Though web site technique was still in development in Serbia at that time.

    For what the targets are concerned - sure they wouldn't have helped the civilians in Sarajevo, and all the other cities likewise, from being targeted by Serb as well as the Croat or the Muslim gunners. Unfortunately, memory of the people looks like being too short. Mostly, it is being easily forgotten about dozen hundred thousends of Serbian refugees that fled from Croatia and Bosnia into Serbia. Those poor people are still in here, and are again being killed, this time, only, - by NATO.

    Nonetheless, that does not approve the massacres done by some soldiers - Serb, Croatian, Muslim or whatsoever. On the other hand, those and likewise atrocities were done by just the small groups of people from whatever side, not by all the nations.

    All of those sick people have to be convicted for what they've done, weather they are the Serbs, the Muslims, the Croatians, the Albanians or the NATO soldiers.

    They have to be convicted. They, but not their nations!

    This collectivization is dangerous, it's the fascist way of thinking.

    Therefore, the targets are just a symbol of something innocent, that should not, can not and must not be targeted nor killed, for whatever reasons. Here, we are talking about the lives of the innocent people, female, male, young, old, babies, kids, youth, old men and women, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grannies, grand children... Of whatever nationalities and origin they are!

    Those people are really being killed. They exist no more. They stopped to be. Most of them are not dying silently nor decently at all - their dismembered bodies are being scattered everywhere.

    They had a right to live! Who is the one, for goodness, to judge weather their life is worthless. They can't even be buried properly, 'cause the puzzles are made of them!

    Those things are the reality, unfortunately. Those are the ones that are targeted. As usual. The guilty ones usually stay unpunished. Unfortunately.