KOSOVO: CONTROVERSY CONTINUES OVER ICTY VISIT;

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000554

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE
NSC FOR BRAUN
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI
EUR/ACE FOR DROGERS, MOKEEFE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID KCRM KDEM KJUS PGOV PINR PREL YI UNMIK
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: CONTROVERSY CONTINUES OVER ICTY VISIT;
KRUSHE E VOGEL SURVIVORS STILL BELIEVE BODIES CAN BE FOUND

REF: A. PRISTINA 461


B. THE HAGUE 01294

C. PRISTINA 282

D. PRISTINA 480

PRISTINA 00000554 001.2 OF 003


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Several widows from the Krushe e
Vogel/Mala Krusa massacre say they first assisted a visiting
UN convoy on May 25, but then grew suspicious when the convoy
showed interest in the local Serb graveyard and the homes of
former Serb residents. One widow expressed no remorse over
attacking international police, and continues to assert that
at least one Serb former resident was in the convoy. Head of
UNMIK's Department of Justice Al Moskowitz said the identity
of one of the Serbs in the convoy is not certain and is being
investigated. Authorities have found and identified the
remains of only 14 of the 112 victims of the massacre.
Family members believe that the perpetrators, who they say
have information that could lead to the discovery of the
remains of the 98 victims who are still missing, are living
freely in Serbia and Western Europe. The Acting Director of
UNMIK's Office of Missing Persons and Forensics believes
Serbs burned the rest of the victims beyond possible
identification and they will never be found. END SUMMARY.

WIDOWS ASSISTED UNMIK CONVOY UNTIL SUSPICIONS AROUSED
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) Seven of the widows of the Krushe e Vogel/Mala
Krusa massacre told PolOff and PolFSN on June 21 that
approximately 20 UN vehicles came unannounced to their
village on May 25 and drove around visiting several sites
(Ref A). The widows said that at first they thought maybe
the convoy had come to return the bodies of their missing,
and this generated a great deal of excitement and interest.
(NOTE. Of the 112 victims of the Krushe e Vogel massacre, 98
remain missing. END NOTE.). They said that four people
(three police officers and one interpreter) got out and
toured the massacre site, and residents told them about the
events of March 25 and 26, 1999. The widows said residents
were cooperative until several of the vehicles aroused
suspicion by stopping at the Serb graveyard and driving past
the homes of former Serb residents.


3. (SBU) Nezire Batusha, who lost her husband and two sons,
aged 15 and 21, said she confronted the visitors, and
demanded to know if there were any Serbs in the convoy.
Batusha claimed she and her brother-in-law approached the
convoy and recognized two formQSerb neighbors inside the
vehicles. Batusha said that in the ensuing melee, an
international policeman hit her in the kidneys and an UNMIK
vehicle ran over her foot. The petite and mild-mannered
woman said she attacked the policeman and drew blood, and
"would have kept fighting, but for the (tear) gas." Batusha
said she was hospitalized for ten days after the incident.
She said she and the others would fight any Serbs who attempt
to return to Krushe e Vogel.


4. (SBU) Agron Limani, whose father and 23 year-old brother
died in the massacre, told PolOff and PolFSN on June 21 that
village residents were satisfied with apologies from
Principle Deputy SRSG Steve Schook and Police Commissioner
Kai Vittrup and with their promises to notify residents in
advance of any future visits. However, he added that the
officials heightened the resident's suspicions during a
recent visit when they refused to clarify who was in the
convoy. Limani said he has a contact who was traveling with
the convoy who claims there were seven Serbs in the convoy.
Limani said the contact claims the convoy's participants
included the wartime commander of the Yugoslav army garrison
at Prizren, three former residents of the village, and three
Serbs that the contact did not recognize.


PRISTINA 00000554 002.2 OF 003



5. (SBU) Head of UNMIK's Department of Justice (DOJ) Al
Moskowitz told PolOff on June 27 that there were four Serbs
in the convoy, including two interpreters and two &VIPs.8
He said one of the VIPs was Tomislav Visnjic, Lead Counsel at
the ICTY for General Dragoljub Ojdanic, while the other
identified himself as an ICTY investigator (Ref B).
Moskowitz said UMMIK is investigating the identity of the
second VIP, who might have been a former resident of the
village traveling under an assumed name. Moskowitz said the
UNMIK Civil Police who organized the visit considered giving
advance notice to the residents, but decided that doing so
would increase the security risk. According to UNMIK
spokesman Gyorgy Kakuk, a preliminary investigation by the
DOJ determined that "a number of mistakes were made in the
process of approving and planning this visit."

98 OF 112 VICTIMS STILL MISSING
--------------


6. (SBU) Limani said only two of the 112 victims have been
returned to their families, and 12 more were in the Office of
Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF) morgue in
Rahovec/Orahovac. Acting OMPF director Valerie Brasey told
PolOff on June 22 that the 12 sets of remains consisted of
assorted bones that were found last year near Prizren and
identified as Krushe e Vogel victims. She said the families
accepted OMPF's recommendation that the remains be held at
the OMPF morgue in Rahovec in case more bones are later
identified and matched to those bodies.


7. (SBU) However, Brasey said she believes that the other
victims were burned beyond identification and will never be
found. She said none of the bodies found in mass graves in
Serbia have been linked to Krushe e Vogel, nor does she
expect any to be. (NOTE. Victims of a similar massacre in
the adjacent village of Krushe e Madhe were found in mass
graves in Serbia, and 45 of them were repatriated to Kosovo
and buried on March 26 (Ref C). END NOTE).

FAMILY MEMBERS BELIEVE THE BODIES CAN BE FOUND
-------------- -


8. (SBU) Limani, however, believes at least eight more
bodies are in the Prizren area, based on information from a
Kosovo Albanian doctor who says Serbs forced him to conduct
autopsies on 20 Krushe e Vogel victims. Limani expressed
frustration that former Kosovo Serb neighbors who
participated in the massacre, and a Serb prosecutor who he
says was present at the autopsies, still have not been
investigated, charged and arrested. Limani insisted that
these people have information about what happened to the rest
of the bodies, and said the fate of the missing could easily
be resolved if there was the political will to do so.


9. (SBU) Limani said the international community was
destabilizing Kosovo by protecting Serbs and insisting on the
implementation of standards instead of helping the victims.
He criticized western nations who he says have given refugee
status to Serbs from the village who were involved in the
crimes and should instead be treated as "common criminals."
He urged UNMIK to issue Interpol warrants on the Serbs who
participated in the massacre, and to seek their extradition
to Kosovo for trial. (NOTE. Moskowitz said he has tried
unsuccessfully to convince war crimes judges and prosecutors
in Belgrade to send suspects to Kosovo for trial by
international prosecutors and judges. END NOTE).

FUNDING FOR INVESTIGATIONS AND EXHUMATIONS
--------------


10. (SBU) UNMIK's Department of Justice has asked the USG
for USD 180,000 to fund the review of several thousand files
that could assist with war crimes prosecutions. OMPF has
also requested 200,000 euros to fund ongoing exhumations,

PRISTINA 00000554 003.2 OF 003


including both new cases and re-exhumations (requested by
families) of conflict victims who were buried immediately
after the war without concrete identification and for whom no
death certificates were issued (Ref D). OMPF program officer
Klaire Kasibayo told PolOff on June 26 that because a major
exhumation scheduled for June was canceled due to
insufficient leads, OMPF now has approximately 90,000 euros
remaining from the USD 300,000 OMPF received from the USG in
2005 for exhumations. She said this can fund exhumations
through the end of October 2006.


11. (SBU) COMMENT. The ordeal that these women suffered in
no way excuses their attack on visiting international police
officers and attorneys. However, it underscores the need to
bring justice to the victims and close missing persons cases,
even those for which bodies may never be found. END COMMENT.


12. (U) Post clears this message in its entirety for
release to Special Envoy Ahtisaari.
GOLDBERG