On the anniversary of the Rezalla Massacre, Prime Minister Albin Kurti recalled one of the most severe crimes of the war, emphasizing that the wounds of this tragedy remain open for the victims' families and for society as a whole. He recalled that after the execution of 98 men and boys in this village, Serbian forces attempted to conceal the traces of the crime by disappearing the bodies of the deceased.
Evidence of Serbia's genocide is fresh everywhere in Kosovo. Equally fresh are the wounds of the families of those killed in the Rezalla Massacre, where on April 5, 1999, 98 men and boys were murdered.
After the brutal execution, in an attempt to hide the crime, Serbian armed forces seized the corpses. Twenty-nine of them were found in the mass grave in Rudnica, Raลกka, in Serbia. From Kizhevak, in 2021, the remains of seven of the victims were returned to Kosovo's soil, including cases of reunification of bones exhumed years earlier in Rudnica.
Serbia still sleeps on mass graves from the genocide carried out in Kosovo. Over 950 unarmed civilians were massacred in Kosovo, their bodies seized and placed in mass graves in Serbia, including refrigerated trucks that emerged from the depths of lakes there. Serbia still keeps hidden the information about the location of at least 11 mass graves within its territory.
We call on international partners to demand from Serbia, as responsible for the killing and disappearance of our citizens, the full disclosure of the fate of the missing. The justice institutions of the Republic of Kosovo must act without delay, so that the commanders and perpetrators face justice.
We cannot allow oblivion to cover the atrocities of the war in Kosovo, just as the soil of mass graves cannot cover the truth about the crimes committed by Serbia. By honoring the past and seeking justice for the victims, we commit to the future of our Republic, where new generations grow up free and safe. On this date, which is a testament to the pain and resilience of our people, we honor the slain in Rezalla. Eternal be the memory of the nation's martyrs and heroes!