Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR Kosovo) and Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Serbia (YIHR Serbia) strongly condemn the statement of President of Serbia Mr. Aleksandar Vucic about the denial of the massacre in Račak.

On January 15, 1999 Serbian forces killed 44 civilians in the Račak village. The OSCE Verification Mission, US Ambassador William Walker, called it “a crime against humanity”. Račak massacre was also part of the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic before the ICTY, but no final verdict was made due to his death while in detention.

Mr. Vucic declared that “it was all fabricated by that global fraudster, scammer and swindler, Walker”.

This is an unacceptable statement! Such denial rhetoric violates the dignity of victims and their families, while it is against the values of peace, reconciliation and justice.

We call on President Vucic to apologize and to stop denying war crimes committed in Kosovo and in the region by the Milosevic regime.

We also call on all political leaders in Serbia and Serbian political leaders in Kosovo to distance themselves from extremist statements and to invite people to recognize, respect and commit in brining justice for all victims, survivors of sexual violence and missing people from the war in Kosovo.

We, as young people from Kosovo and Serbia, will always stand against the denial of war crimes. We are determined to continue opposing nationalistic narratives and we will persistently continue working towards building peace and reconciliation between Kosovo and Serbia.

Foto: kremlin.ru