“For the bravery and courage shown in the ‘murder and massacre of thousands of Albanians in Kosovo’, the criminal Milosevic was awarded the ‘Order of Bravery’…”/ Reflections of the famous publicist

By Sheradin BERISHA

Part Two

Memorie.al / It are well known that during the war in Kosovo (1998-1999), Serbia engaged a broad superstructure of military-police forces… against the Albanian people and the Kosovo Liberation Army. These forces constituted a complex combination of special police structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, special military units of the Serbian Army, numerous paramilitary units, as well as a spectrum of other volunteer forces that came from former Soviet countries such as: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, then Romania, etc., etc. And this entire criminal superstructure had only one joint commanding head, and that was the arch-criminal (read: the arch-gravedigger of Kosovo) Slobodan Milošević.

                                                 Continued from the previous issue

– For the manifestation of bravery and courage in “the killing and massacring of thousands of Albanians in Kosovo,” the arch-criminal (read: the arch-gravedigger of Kosovo), Milošević, awarded the “Order of Bravery” to members of the Third Army, as follows:

1. Brigadier General, Milan D. Đaković
2. Colonel, Zoran M. Jablanović
3. Colonel, Milivoje P. Branić
4. Colonel, Miloje Miletić
5. Colonel, Dragan Petrović
6. Colonel, Radojko Stevanović
7. Colonel, Veroljub Živković
8. Lieutenant, Simo Ivošević
9. Lieutenant, Stojan Konjikavac
10. Lieutenant, Pera Petrović
11. Major, Zoran Bojković
12. Major, Uroš Nikolić
13. Major, Radivoje Paravinja
14. Major, Ljubisav Stojanović
15. Captain First Class, Ljubiša Vučetić
16. Captain First Class, Zoran Raseta
17. Captain First Class, Boban Rajković
18. Captain, Dragan Lukić
19. Captain, Jovica Milak
20. Captain, Perica Nastasijević
21. Captain, Miloš Ralević
22. Captain, Čedo Trpkovski
23. Lieutenant, Boban Kuzmanović
24. Second Lieutenant, Nenad Popović
25. Sergeant Veteran, Radiša Ilić
26. Sergeant Veteran, Željko Alar
27. Sergeant Veteran, Branko Vuković
28. Sergeant, Aleksandar Raković
29. Junior Sergeant, Ivan Nićiforović
30. Corporal, Branislav M. Fungerhut
31. Soldier, Dragan Belošević
32. Soldier, Milan Bogdanović
33. Soldier, Veroljub Mijatović
34. Soldier, Saša Pejić
35. Soldier, Milinko Pendić
36. Soldier, Nikola Popović

– Also decorated were these UDB officers in Kosovo:

1. Colonel, Dragutin ADAMOVIĆ – Gjakova
2. Colonel, Dušan B. GAVRANIĆ – Gjilan
3. Colonel, Gradimir R. ZEKAVICA – Prizren
4. Lieutenant Colonel Milan S. ĐURIČIĆ – (Prizren, head of the Police Department)
5. Major Milenko M. BOZOVIĆ – Police Commander in Skenderaj.

– The arch-criminal Milošević, with the “Order of Freedom,” the “Order of the National Hero,” the “Order of the Yugoslav Flag,” and the “Order of the War Flag” of the First Degree – decorated these high commanders who fought in Kosovo:

– The “Order of Freedom” was given to:

1. General, Dragoljub Ojdanić
2. General-Colonel, Nebojša Pavković (Commander of the Third Army)

– The “Order of the National Hero” was given to:

1. Colonel, Dragan Živanović – Commander of the 125th Motorized Brigade;
2. Colonel, Božidar Delić – Commander of the 549th Motorized Brigade;
3. Colonel, Ljubiša Diković – Commander of the 37th Motorized Brigade;
4. Lieutenant Colonel, Ilija Todorov – Commander of the 63rd Paratrooper Brigade;
5. Colonel, Žarko Branković – Commander of the 124th Police Intervention Brigade;

– The “Order of the Yugoslav Flag” was given to:

1. Zoran Anđelković – President of the Temporary Executive Council for Kosovo and Metohija;
2. Nikola Šainović – Deputy Prime Minister of the Yugoslav government;
3. Vlastimir Đorđević – General-Colonel of Police;
4. Obrad Stevanović, General-Major of Police;
5. Sreten Lukić, General-Major of Police;

The Hague Tribunal’s investigations into the crimes committed in Kosovo

After a slow start in 1998, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague began investigations into the crimes committed during the war in Kosovo. On May 27, 1999, the Hague tribunal made public the indictment against: Slobodan Milošević, and four other high Serbian officials, who were accused of; “murder, persecution, and deportations… in Kosovo,” for the time period January 1, 1999, until the end of May of the same year. (This does not include the crimes committed during 1998)

Besides the arch-criminal Slobodan, the other accused were:

– Milan Milutinović, President of Serbia and member of the Supreme Defense Council,

– Dragoljub Ojdanić, Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army,

– Nikola Šainović, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and

– Vlajko Stojiljković, Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia.

After the end of the war in Kosovo, namely on April 1, 2001, the criminal Milošević (after falling from power), was arrested, while about three months later, on June 28, he was transferred to the Hague prison.

While the trial in The Hague is being held against the aforementioned Serbian leaders (except for Miloš, who in February 2006 passed into the other world without being convicted), I often ask myself the question: “When, I wonder, will the hundreds of other high state officials of Serbia, of the Serbian Army and Police (who were promoted and received commendations from the gravedigger of Kosovo, Milošević), also be arrested for the monstrous crimes committed during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo”?! / Memorie.al