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Rai Tre PRESENTS
THE INFINITE WAR
By Riccardo Iacona
These are images of NATO bombing of Belgrade.
It is 19:30, March 24, 1999, nine years ago.
In order to win the war NATO planes destroy:
– 82 bridges,
– All oil refineries and 14 thermal power plants,
– 13 airports and 20 railway stations,
and 121 factories.
In order to win the war NATO planes inflict to Serbia
the damage of 100 billion dollars, they force dislocation
of two million people and they mistakenly kill
at least 500 civilians and wound thousands.
Alas! Look what NATO has done to us!
While there is a lack of bread in Belgrade
in Kosovo Albanians are left to themselves.
Serbs, in revenge, expel them from their homes
800 thousands of Kosovo Albanians
are forced to leave Kosovo, like this.
Hundreds of them are killed as a revenge,
as a reprisal or mistakenly by NATO planes.
Why all this?
We are in Kosovo because we want to substitute
ethnic cleansing with tolerance and respect.
Our message is clear – peace and humanity
will prevail in Kosovo.
The refugees will return to homes,
they will again find security.
NINE YEARS LATER
A Serb boy has just been killed, here inside.
Burst of shots from Kalashnikov fired
by Albanians hit his face.
His name was Dimitrije Popovic
and he was only 17 years old.
They are his mother and his father.
Do you see this man with American flag on his head?
The one here? Is he the killer?
No this one is the Elder, he is the tribe leader.
Is he the father of the killer? -Yes.
Has he confessed?
Yes. It is written here. The Albanian confessed.
Motif: Ethnic hatred. He confessed that.
Look here it is the tribe that commands
instead of NATO.
Here this one with a helmet is a NATO soldier.
I asked him why they let him pass by with a Kalashnikov
You know they passed by them along the street.
How do you protect our youth?
He did not reply, he remained silent.
He did not say a single word.
These are pictures of the funeral.
This is Dimitrije. This is where we buried him,
and here is the place where they killed him.
He went with his friends to eat a hamburger
On the other side they had a Kalashnikov
and with 22 bullets they shot at him.
Is the killer right now in prison or out of it?
We don’t know. How could we know?
Perhaps they are not even in prison.
How can we know when we don’t travel anywhere?
Can you give me this envelope?
This one? -Yes that one behind you.
Inside are Dimitrije’s textbooks.
He attended third year of the medical gymnasium.
These are his certificates. He was an exemplary boy.
Dimitrije Popovic. Everyone liked my son.
He was so cheerful, cheerful…
He was a boy who loved to live.
O God!
Dimitrije. After we lost him we are just like dead
Look at him with his girlfriend, his fiancee.
How can they have independent Kosovo
if they are murderers, terrorists?
I don’t know which other way to name them.
How would you name them?
How can Italy say we will recognize them?
Recognize whom? UCK? Terrorist? Murderers?
Dimitrije’s mother lives in Gracanica,
12 kilometres from Pristina, Kosovo’s capital,
and less than an hour of flight from Rome.
Gracanica is the only Serbian settlement
close to Pristina
where Kosovans of Serb ethnicity still live
and it is like a prison under open sky
The church. It is a very beautiful
monastery from 14. century.
It is encircled with road-blocks and razor wire.
Not being able to go out
all of the Serbs who were employed lost their jobs
It is enough to look upon their houses
to understand the extreme poverty of Gracanica.
The commerce is reduced to these four kiosks
which are located by the main street,
while the Serbs who cannot go to other places
are forced to sell like this in the midst of the street.
They threaten us every day,
whoever passes by us may drop a bomb and kill us all.
They took my house and my job,
is this that democracy that you brought to us?
Gracanica is full of prefabricated homes like this one.
Here thousands of Serb families found their refuge
after being expelled from their houses by Albanians
like Ms. Milosava
If you only knew how beautiful and big house I had
We had everything, the land and the animals.
We were buying almost nothing
We lived here in Nerodimlje
70 houses, 70 Serb families
Now there is nothing left
They burnt everything we had
Entire place was levelled to the ground
Milosh, husband of Ms. Milosava, was abducted
by Albanians two months after the end of the war
Albanians came to our house to take him
They told us they have to interrogate him
After that he has never returned to the house
Do you know Albanians who took your husband?
Yes, certainly, I know them all
Look, I wrote down the names
of the Albanians who abducted my husband
Oh! Are they all from the UCK?
And these persons, what do they do now?
Are they still there? Yes! No one is troubling them
But, haven’t you addressed the international police?
Yes, we did it, but they did not heed at all to our words
Those there move freely everywhere,
while all traces of my husband have been lost.
But it would be only enough to interrogate them
It would be enough to ask them:
What have you done with my husband? Where have you taken him?
Why was he abducted?
Because they want to expel us from Kosovo
But it’s in vain, they won’t manage it
As long as I live I will stay here
From here I won’t go anywhere…
till I find my husband
Mirjana was only 20 years old
She enrolled to the Belgrade University
and in order to reach Gracanica and house
of her parents she took a bus
But following an order of Albanians the bus was blown up
In Mirjana’s house her parents left her room the way it was
They did not move anything
In the bus, together with Mirjana, was also her sister,
who miraculously survived the explosion.
We just entered into Kosovo. The bus was full,
and there was not enough seats for everyone
There were people standing
And then, all of sudden, we were blown up
Was the bomb inside or outside of the bus?
It was hidden beneath the asphalt
They made it blow while the bus was passing over
Was it a real terrorist attack? -Yes
Did they capture the terrorists?
They say they arrested one of them
I don’t know if he has again escaped, because he had already escaped once
Our solicitor says that he was not able to carry out
such an attack just by himself
Everyone says so
They had to place the bomb, to connect with wires
It was a group, an organization
What was Mirjana like?
She was always the best student
She was the best student of her generation at the Pristina’s gymnasium
Then she was an excellent student at the University
She had already passed first three exams
of the first semester at the Law faculty
The day she was returning she got one “27”
I was happy and I bought a bottle of brandy to celebrate
Last words that you remember?
She was smiling
Kosovo Albanian who broke the smile of Mirjana
is Florin Ejupi. Here you can see him!
It was him who was close to the trunk from where
the explosion was activated
His DNA was found on the cigarette ends that
he left at the site. He was arrested, transferred to Bondsteel
the biggest American military base in Europe , and, incredibly,
Florin manages to escape from there No-one ever understood how
For three years Florin remained at large,
and then he reappeared in 2004 on this road that leads
towards Pristina, wearing a Serbian uniform,
in the company of three other Albanians
They wanted to commit an attack and ascribe it to the Serbs
At the end they killed a police officer of the United Nations
Now Florin is in prison He was sentenced to forty years,
but he never spoke So we don’t know who the others were,
and above all who gave him order to blow up the bus
Only one thing is certain
Kosovo Albanian Florin Ejupi is a terrorist
As were those who entered this little Serbian village
Staro Gracko – 15 km from Pristina
Here the Albanian terrorists have in a single day
deprived their families of 14 men
Here beneath was buried the husband of my sister
Here by his side were buried two brothers
and a nephew of my sister
How did it happen?
They went into fields to harvest, and they never got back
In the evening we found their tortured bodies
All of them were killed, 14 men all together
they were butchered, their bodies were mutilated
Was NATO already here when this massacre was committed?
Yes, and we addressed exactly to them to request protection
At that time English soldiers were here,
but they told us they did not have enough soldiers to protect us
What happened with the tombs of 14 murdered men?
Who destroyed them?
Local Albanians did it
They would like to obliterate our presence, as if we had never existed
They were killed there at the bottom
They finished to harvest and loaded their trailers
They were moving towards the village,
they were just moving up that little slope
From that day on the village of Staro Gracko
is like as if it had died
The villagers have no more courage to work their fields,
and they live from small monetary assistance
which still arrives from Belgrade
This is my husband. Do you see?
And these were two brothers of the husband
This is son of one of them. They were all killed
Three families destroyed
The widows and families of the killed men
live secluded to their houses
With their husbands they lost the only source of income
My marriage lasted for only four years
We never had any serious dispute
Two of us lived in great love. We had two kids
One of them we lost at his very young age
Then only she remained. He was a wonderful person
You know, I was lucky to have met him
And now I suffer a lot
I miss my husband so much. I am dying for him
I lost three sons. That was everything I had
I told my husband not to go to work in the fields
It was dangerous. But you must understand
that everyone in the village lost their job,
and it was important to complete the harvesting
It was meaning that we would be able to give meals to our children
We would at least have some grains
There was no other choice
our children would have been left without bread
Was there something in the air, in the days before the massacre?
There was a great fear. But no-one
believed that one such thing could befall us
We did not believe that they would go to kill
ordinary people, workers,
those who never harmed anyone,
that never wore any uniform
Why killing villagers who were tilling their own land?
Why did they do it?
Do you thing that the justice will be satisfied?
No, No. I don’t believe since those nine years
were not enough to reach the justice, the truth
This is the crime scene
And these are the tortured bodies
Why was it not enough for them to kill them?
Why did they have to destroy their bodies?
There is only one answer: to terrorize those who remained!
“If you don’t go away, this is what will happen to you at the end!”
KOSOVO POLJE
Before the war almost six thousand Serbs lived here
They worked in a huge state-owned mill
And they lived in buildings like this one
100 Kosovo Albanians gathered together at 5:00 am on March 17, 2004
As a first thing they attacked Serbian hospital in the town
As you can see they completely destroyed it
Albanian authorities, to their own shame, quickly said
“We will reconstruct it, to be more beautiful and bigger than before”
And, after 4 years, this is the promised hospital
Only Serbian doctors are to blame,
since they don’t want to return and work there
They don’t want to open it
It is not a blame of us Albanians. They do it,
because the politics tells them so
Belgrade tells them no to return
Were the Serb doctors good? -Yes, yes!
Is it a pity that they are not with us?
Yes, we feel sad because we don’t have
a hospital here no more
If someone feels bad he has to be taken
in an ambulance all the way to Pristina
But, remember, Serbian doctors are to blame,
since they don’t want to return for political reasons
Why don’t Serb doctors return to Kosovo Polje?
This is why! These are their houses
which were burnt down on March 2004
Then, they decided to reconstruct them,
and here are they reconstructed. Houses are new,
the roof is new, fixtures are new, but look here
The same way they had reconstructed them,
the same way they destroyed them again
They broke the wooden frames,
they broke all window panes
and took all sanitaryware that was in the bathroom,
they broke the mirror
They just did not remove the roof
Actually a part of the roof is missing too
Look, what a great pity it is! They were modern,
constructed with respect to standards
All the frames and the wood were new. Here!
They also use it as a toilet. Then they soil the walls
And also here, look! This is all ***!
This is why Serbs from Kosovo Polje don’t return!
Also in Obilic thousands of Serbs lived before the war
And almost all of them worked in the huge power plant
that provides electric power for entire Kosovo
Today, among seven thousand workers, men and women,
there is not a single Serb, man of woman
The only workers are Albanians. Why?
These were houses of Serbs who worked in the factory
They were appearing as soon as you leave the factory
Albanian hordes levelled them with the ground
Only foundations are now visible
Then, they attacked the houses where families of Serb workers lived
And they were reduced to this!
That house there belonged to Serbs, and it was destroyed
Do you mean the first one or the second? -Both
Today there are no Serbs here? -No
At the end a group of Albanians attacked
the Orthodox Cathedral of Serbs in the town
First they broke window panes with stones,
and then they dropped dozens of Molotov cocktails inside
Everything was in fire
Today in Obilic only two couples of elderly Serbs remained,
who live under NATO military escort in this brown building there
This is Belo Polje. Before we (Italians) had arrived
1.800 Serbs lived here, women, men and children
Today under Italian protection only 27 Serbs remain
He is the village leader
Was this one also yours? -Yes
This was the old house? -Yes. This was my first house
Was it destroyed in 2004 or in 1999? -In 1999
And then you constructed it there? -Yes
And also that one was blown in 2004? -Exactly!
So, now it is the third time that you build your house? -Yes, it is the third time!
Who was living here?
Two families were living here
These were my father’s cousins
with wives and children
They are now in Serbia, they never returned
That house was reconstructed after 1999,
and then Albanians again destroyed it in 2004
This was the village’s main square
Earlier there was everything here,
like shops for example
This house in stone behind you was
the palace of culture, it was central one for this region
And this was the new school
It was built a little bit before the war
400 pupils attended it
In spite of the Italian presence
this village was attacked three times
by the groups of Kosovo Albanians
This way Belo Polje became an enormous row of ruins
where it became very difficult to recognize streets
27 Serbs who remained live in the midst of it,
without a school, without a post office,
without a public phone, without first aid
and a health care facility,
even without a shop where one could buy a loaf of bread
Their church is this prefabricated yellow building,
after Albanians destroyed it for the third time
they refused to reconstruct it in stones,
while the tombs of their ancestors
were destroyed by shovels and pickaxes
This here is Prizren, the second biggest city in Kosovo
Here, in order to expel 4.000 Serbs who lived in the city
an infuriated mob of Kosovo Albanians
set on fire one entire city quarter
the one which was the oldest and the most beautiful
I would like to ask you something, you journalist!
Do you know what Serbs did in Kosovo? This a little drop
in a sea compared to what they had done!
They expelled 800.000 men,
I was among them together with my son
But, now, you had to return?
Of course we returned, because it was our right to return!
Why don’t the Serbs have the same right?
No, because they have hands soiled with blood
They don’t have any right to return!
Did all 4.000 Serb citizens of Priren soiled their hands with blood?
Listen, Serbs came here simply as colonizers,
they took these houses because the state gave that to them,
but now there is no more Yugoslavia, now we are the state,
and this story has ended
However the most ferocious ethnic cleansing
was perpetrated in Pristina, in the Kosovo capital
These were images that were circling around
a day after a city quarter in Pristina, where Serbs lived,
was attacked From the rage of 500 Kosovo Albanians
not a single apartment had been spared
First time we arrive there at night,
these are high buildings where now
almost exclusively live Kosovo Albanians
Ms. Draskovic does not like to be interviewed
Last time she did it her Albanians neighbours
broke her window pane with a stone
and she has to think about her three daughters
So, we agreed that the next day we do it
But, firstly, we have to hide our TV camera
inside of a big bag, so that the neighbours don’t notice anything
Albanians attacked the quarter. It was at 5:00 p.m.
At 8:00 p.m. the power went off
We remained in dark with children who were crying
We heard them yelling from the street,
they were throwing stones saying: “pigs, pigs!”
Get out, get out you wild animals!
They were hurling Molotov bombs into apartments,
other they were hurling into cars in order to burn them
If NATO had wanted to defend us five soldiers
at the entrance staircase would have done
How many Serbs left after this attack?
Here there were 200
After the attack only 6 families returned!
Those who didn’t have any other place to go
Like you?
We don’t have money to rent another apartment in Serbia,
not even in Gracanica
Now, when only six families remain, do Albanians leave you alone?
No, absolutely no. Our daughters can only go to school
when they are escorted by NATO
Once they return from school they remain at home
They can’t go out, otherwise Albanians would provoke them
Once there was a case when little Marija went outside
and an Albanians was pulling her ear yelling
“This is our land! Why did you come here to play?
What will happen with you after the independence?
It will happen that Albanians behave well for three years
Then, when EU leaves Albanians will attack Serb houses,
and they will expel us all
There were 40.000 Serbs who lived in Pristina before the war;
today only 40 of them are still there
But all this was still not enough!
It was necessary to prove that Serbs don’t have any historic right
to this land. This is way groups of Albanians
immediately started to destroy Serb-Orthodox churches
that were the oldest in this region
This was monastery of the Holy Trinity
It was a 14th-century church that was dominating over entire Kosovo
600 years of Christian history in the Balkans destroyed by explosives
It was burnt soon after the war Who did it?
I don’t know, I was not here, I was in Albania
And when you returned to village did someone tell you anything?
I could not believe that the villagers had not even talked about it
Tell me the truth! Will you?
Is life without Serbs better? -Yes.
Why? -Because there are less problems
But why? Weren’t they normal people? Serbs are not normal
Who destroyed the church? Were these local people? -Yes
And you know them? -I was too young
What about your father? -No, he was in Switzerland
These are a few images that we managed to found,
which witness about the destruction of churches in Kosovo
Look how many people participate in the attack,
practically that is an entire village
They go forward in such a furore with no-one to stop them,
neither NATO forces, nor forces of UN, nor the Kosovo Police
And these are images which a Serbian broadcaster
aired about the clashes in March 2004 in the Mitrovica Nord
Do you see this white smoke?
A group of Kosovo Albanians has just set on fire the church of St. Sava
For six hours the fire was burning
It would have been enough just to send
a handful of NATO soldiers to stop them
But when Serbs, a few weeks later,
returned to the church of St. Sava this is what they saw!
After NATO took over the control of Kosovo
110 churches and holy sites have been destroyed
But where NATO wanted he managed to save
holy sites of the Christianity
This is the Archbishopric of Pec
The fact that it is still integral today we owe
to this 500 metres long wall, to those road-blocks,
and to 100 Italian soldiers who in shifts,
day and night, survey this incredible site
And here you see what we have lost!
Here is what hordes of Kosovo Albanians have burnt!
Father Ilarion brings us to show these few things that
they managed to save from 100 destroyed churches
From churches in Petric, Siga and Brestovik, Kos, Istok
You see candle holders, liturgical objects,
crowns for Orthodox marriages, burnt icons
These might have been very old, haven’t they?
We are talking about 30 to 40 churches of an inestimable value,
which have been completely lost
Has that ever happened in the history? One such an ample devastation?
It is hard to say, but in such a short period
I think it hadn’t happened
And also now the fear and the threat of the destruction still exist
For example, the Decani monastery was attacked last year
Yes, by a grenade. -By a grenade
We want to thank much to Italian soldiers
for protecting our monasteries. Also, we have
with them good relations on the human level
For sure, this compliment is pleasing to us Italians,
but it is pretty sad to consider that
in the liberated Kosovo one Serb church
is an object that Army has to defend
As for the rest look now what is needed
when Fr. Ilarion has to go out from here
in order to go to serve a liturgy
This is another road-block,
other Italian soldiers armed up to their teeth
and here is the little monastery of Budisavci
Fr. Ilarion serves liturgy surrounded by this military apparatus
In liberated Kosovo this is the maximal possible freedom
for Christians to profess their faith
This was the situation before the war
The areas painted in dark red colour were the zones
where Serbs were the majority, more than 50%
He is Dragan Velic. He is the man who for all these years
was taking records about ethnic cleansing in Kosovo
town per town, village per village
You would like to know how many Serbs have been expelled
by force from Kosovo after the end of the war
223 409! Men, women and children!
Who ordered such a huge ethnic cleansing?
And who carried it out?
In Belgrade, being the side in question,
they follow with great attention what happens in Kosovo
Inside of this palace work the top security,
counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics services or the Republic of Serbia
They are people who don’t give interviews for TV
But they accepted to talk to us
What they tell me you’ll know later
No-one could believe that 220.000 persons
are expelled day by day without a good organization
Ethnic cleansing in Kosovo was planned
We know who carried it out
Our security services made a list of 800 Kosovo Albanian terrorists
All of them are ex KLA fighters
We believe that KLA has never been dismantled,
and that this people are interlinked in a network,
that they are a real and true military secret force
And this military secret force responds directly to orders
of the present chief Kosovo politicians
Of course, this is what Serbs say,
Serbs who represent one side in question
But now you will read what a reserved UNMIK report says
UNMIK that is United Nations
It speaks about KShiK,
which is a clandestine military structure present in Kosovo
There is a map with towns where commanding offices
of this military structure are located
And this is how they finance themselves
By trafficking of drugs and arms, and by extortion
There are virtually names and surnames of the soldiers of this army
And all of them are big criminals
They smuggle oil and practise destruction
Almost all of them smuggle drugs,
and some of them have specialized in the trafficking of war weaponry
of all possible types
All of them are members of the secret military structure
that this report speaks about
It is the same structure that Serbs were telling me about
Then, there is a list of the superiors of this organization
and the links between this military structure and politicians
PDK, the Thaci’s party!
Once he was the KLA commander and now the prime minister of Kosovo
These are the same political references that Serbs were pointing out to me
Also in Pristina in Kosovo,
there was someone dealing with these matters
He was not a Serb, he was an Albanian journalist
His name was Bardulaj Ajeti
He was writing for Bota Sot, a daily close to Ibrahim Rugova,
the leader of moderate Kosovo Albanians
who instead of arms preferred negotiations,
and who never approved military option of the KLA
The journalist in his articles was speaking about
a secret military structure
He was investigating in his writings the relations
between the ex KLA fighters and the Prime Minister Hashim Thaci
He was shot to head on June 7, 2005
Bardulaj Ajeti was one of my greatest friends,
and without any doubt he was one of the best journalists
we have had here in Bota Sot, and they killed him
We miss him so much
I worked with him for five years, we were here in the same room,
same writing office
If you only knew how many times we went to knock on the doors
of the International police
And we requested that they find him
The killer? -Yes, the killer
And also the instigators, those who gave the order?
Certainly, them first of all
But, up until now, we haven’t received single news
Was it so that not even a single person had been investigated?
Nothing
I am now reading articles that Bardulaj Ajeti wrote
during the last three months before he was murdered
This one speaks about a Shadow Government, controlled by Thaci,
giving names of those who comprise it
All of them are ex KLA commanders
Then there is one incredible interview with Mr. Ymer Ymeri
Who is Ymer Ymeri? He is an Albanian patriot
whose brother was killed by the UCK
This is him, professor Haki Ymeri
The brother of Haki tells in this Interview to Bardulaj
that the UCK erected dozens of prisons in Albania
where Rugova’s men were being tortured and killed
and Thaci, the current Prime Minister, knew about it
This a village where Hashim Thaci was born
Ymeri family also lives here
Haki Ymeri worked as a professor exactly in the school of Thaci’s village
Here you see this photo is a sign of that
He just left the school and was driving on this same road
in order to get back to his home
Three masked men in UCK uniforms, Albanians like himself,
stopped him and arrested
His corpse, riddled with shots, was found only three days later
Ymeri family has been destroyed
Now there is only old father who remained
in the house with the family women
The professor’s widow with her children, and the wife of Ymer Ymeri,
who after giving interview to Bardulaj had to flee to Germany
But at what point is now the investigation
about the arrest and *** of professor Haki Ymeri?
We don’t know anything
For sure they know, but they don’t have courage to tell
Those who now command know well who that was
My son was in Rugova’s party, in LDK,
he had just won the elections and should have been chosen
in municipal organs as a counsellor
But he was abducted on the very same day that he won
Do you think that the persons who killed your son
might be from the PDK, Thaci’s party?
PDK! That is certain. Those were men from the PDK
The party of Thaci? -Yes
Do you know that the journalist who interviewed your husband was killed too?
Yes, Bardulaj Ajeti, that is true. That is terrible
Do all the opponents of Thaci’s UCK get killed?
Yes, that is like a mafia
Listen this! My son was on the black-list
Serbs made of those they wanted to kill
He managed to save himself from Serbs,
but not from the Albanians of the PDK
This city is Gnjilane
Right here lived Bardulaj Ajeti, the murdered journalist of Bota Sot daily
This here is the house of Bardulaj Ajeti’s family
The mother, the brother’s wife and the brother
I believe that my brother’s case is complicated
Because we are speaking about a political crime
Why?
My brother was a liberal journalist,
he was independent and for sure someone was not feeling comfortable
with what he was writing
I read your brother’s articles
It is terrible how grave were the stories that he exposed
Especially in his interview with Ymeri
The real and terrible crimes committed by the UCK
All in all your brother had an enormous courage
Perhaps you don’t know that my brother addressed
KFOR and UN requesting protection
Did he really do it? -Yes, and they did not even reply to him
He requested either to be escorted or to go to some of NATO countries
Just for a couple of months till threats diminish
those calls in the midst of night
It is clear that also NATO is under pressure of political powers
Are those persons, that we speak about, now in the Government?
Because of that it is impossible to find the killer and the warranter
Because this concerns them and they know all
What did you feel when you saw Prime Minister Thaci
celebrating the independence on the TV?
We did not celebrate the independence -Why?
Because what is there to celebrate?
The fact that in Kosovo Albanians are killing other Albanians?
Is this the independence for which we fought?
Representatives hurry up
No-one wants to miss this day
And here he is, Hashim Thaci, ex UCK commander,
nicknamed the snake,
in front of TV cameras for the most important speech of his life
The parliament of Kosovo,
gathered on an extraordinary session on February 17, 2008
in the capital of Kosovo, Pristina,
declared Kosovo as an independent and democratic state
This is Decani, a little settlement in western Kosovo,
which is under control of Italian NATO soldiers
Here commands another important UCK veteran who, like Thaci,
strongly wanted the independence of Kosovo
He is General Ramush Haradinaj who also was Kosovo Prime Minister
Decani is situated right bellow the mountains
that lead towards Montenegro and Albania
This is what makes it one of the most important places
in Kosovo for drug trafficking
80% of all drugs produced in Afghanistan in order to enter Europe
has to pass right here, carried by hands of Kosovo Albanians
Only in this way could be explained
that in one place with population of only 50.000,
of whom 80% are unemployed,
there are: one... two... three... four banks
and four hotels like this one and here you can see
which type of vehicles circle around
Haradinaj family also made a fortune after the end of the war
Look what a house Haradinaj has made constructed
for himself in his native village!
This will be the residence of the General Haradinaj
So it will be exactly him living here?
Yes, and I know that inside they will also build
a huge restaurant and rooms for important guests of the family
Do you know how much this all cost?
No, I don’t know, but for sure it cost much
I think it was worthwhile because this castle
will one day became important for Kosovo history
It looks like the private castle of the ex Prime Minister of Kosovo cost million Euros
It is a stratospheric figure in a region
where average salary imports about 100 Euros a month
And, lo, much more money is needed to complete it
And this here is super villa that Haradinaj family
built for themselves in Pristina, Kosovo capital
We are filming it secretly from a palace close by
because we know if we get near with our TV cameras
a second later we will have around us the guards of the Haradinaj family
Look, from here you see it better
It is the biggest house on the entire hill
Ramush Haradinaj also established a party and
this is party’s main office in Pristina
The party is AAK, the Alliance for Kosovo
The party glued entire city with huge photos of the leader
“Kosovo expects you” is written there
In fact Ramush Haradinaj is arrested and is now in Hague
where he is prosecuted for grave crimes against humanity
Here you see him while the public prosecutor requests
a 25-years prison term for him
Ramush Haradinaj has been accused, on the base of testimonies
to have ordered and materially participated in the *** of 30 persons
whose remains were found in this here lake
They were all civilians, men and women,
majority of whom were of Serb ethnicity and some Roma
All of them were tortured before being cruelly killed
Inside of this house, owned by the Haradinaj family,
in this very stable, they were interrogated and tortured
Witnesses say this
While waiting for Ramush to return, replacing him in Pristina,
there is his youngest brother – Daut Haradinaj
First thing I asked him was how did Haradinajs earned all this money
My family has been rich since long ago, even before the war
In the Dukagjini valley we were one of economically strongest families
Did you have land?
Yes, we had a lot of land, pastures and hundreds of animals,
ship, cows, horses. We also had many houses
When asked about his brother Ramush
and how would the process in Hague end Daut was hyper optimistic
My brother will be declared innocent, it is 100% sure,
it is more than sure. I know very well the war,
because I also participated in it
We were just defending our land, our villages,
our houses and families from the aggression of Serb soldiers
I am proud of what we did,
because I know we did it in order to achieve independence
Today entire world is present in Kosovo and it is together with us
Is it true that many of those who testified against your brother
have been threatened and they withdrew?
Look, I don’t know about it. This is a matter of a court process,
I can’t say anything regarding that
I can only say that during all the sessions held so far
my brother always came out victorious
Daut was also having problems with the Law
He was sentenced for arresting four Albanians like himself after the war
but those belonging to FARC, Rugova’s army
These four were later found in a well, they were shot dead
Yes, it is true that I was sentenced,
but my term was reduced and now I am a free man
Furthermore those who set me free before the expiry of the full term
obliged me not talk about my sentence,
and this is exactly what I plan to do, also with you
Those who surely cannot talk to us were witnesses
in the court trial against Ramush Haradinaj
Enis Zemaj, Tahir Zemaj, Hasan Zemaj
All of them died on Janury 4, 2003
Was he a politician?
He was a strategist of FARC and a politician,
Rugova’s right hand
He was one of crown witnesses against Ramush Haradinaj
and these three persons, Tahir Zemaj and Enis,
father and son with one cousin, they were shot
with Kalashnikovs in Pristina by unknown persons,
who are still unknown
Nothing is known of them?
Nothing is known. Big silence of this region
does not allow us to make investigations,
because they fear and if you ask them something
they smile, they say he was a great person
But don’t informers tell you something, I guess you have them here?
Informers can only give you suspects
But those suspects you cannot trial in the court
Vittorio di Pucchio is an Italian police officer
who now works for UN police
He is an experienced investigator,
because he is present in the Balkans for more than six years
Here it is so easy to shoot from a weapon,
because hundreds of thousands of weapons are around us
This is not just a few weapons
Haven’t they handed their arms over to KFOR in 1999?
Weaponry has been collected a couple of times, but up until today
there are explosives and weapons circling around
Today when we search houses we still find
Kalashnikovs, pistols, hand grenades
So they are exterminated? -Yes, this family is exterminated
Their house was, I think, that one over there and now there is no-one in
The wife of Tahir Zemaj now lives in Germany, together with the son
Why were they killed, what do you think? -We here don’t know anything
What is your opinion why did they kill them? -I do not know anything, neither who killed him, nor why
Have not many persons from Rugova’s party been killed? -It is true
Is there a reason, what do you think? -I don’t know anything about it
Perhaps all these persons could have testified against Ramush Haradinaj, isn’t it so?
I don’t know the answer
Do you have anything to tell us? -No
Did you see they won’t tell you anything. -Big wall of silence
All of them are from the village
For sure they have talked with one another after these were killed
For sure they talked among themselves, but they would not like
that their opinion reaches ears of those whose ears
should not be reached, which if happens means they are done
One another family was exterminated and also they were Rugova’s,
aren’t they? They were close to Rugova – Musaj family!
Here we have Sadik Musaj, who was killed in 2005 on January 31
and this one here should be
Gjeladin, the brother of Sadik, who was murdered six months later
He was his younger brother
And one another brother was killed previously
immediately after the end of the war
Was he the one who sparked all this conflict with Haradinaj’s family?
They were all arrested by the UCK, by Haradinaj’s family,
and taken to the mountains where they were all exterminated
Then they were dropped into a well
Yes, they were all dropped into a well, all four corpses,
as a witness Muriqi says
How does this Mr. Muriqi live today?
He lives in a seclusion, he travels in a blinded vehicle,
he put bullet-proof window panes onto his house,
all the window frames made of steel. He goes out almost never
So, these were also exterminated?
Yes, also this entire family was exterminated
They were abiding by the Law
But Haradinaj was not doing so? -No
For example, Haradinajs never came to report something to you?
He never came to say “Look, I want to help you, there are arms there”
He never did so when someone was having problems with others
According to others he was himself resolving his own problems
Are we talking about the ex Prime Minister of this State?
Exactly, we are talking about ex Prime Minister
He made appointment with us in a brand new restaurant,
one of those who grow up like mushrooms here in Kosovo,
and which know much about recycling of dirty money
Here he is, arriving ten minutes after us
His name is Ramiz Muriqi, he is an uncle of Vesen Muriqi,
who was crown witness in the court trial against Daut Haradinaj,
of whom Vittorio di Pucchio was already telling us
Ramiz chose the restaurant because it was full of people
He has already undergone three attacks and he does not like to risk
First time I was wounded while I was in the car
with two other cousins of mine
They fired 32 bullets towards me
Next time, me and 15 other persons were wounded,
while we were in a bar together with Tahir Zemaj
Tahir Zemaj, the one which was killed?
Yes, Tahir Zemaj, the FARC commander
on the third occasion they put under my car about 6 kg of explosives,
which they wanted to remotely initiate. But I noticed that
You are a very lucky man? -Yes, I think I am lucky
Lucky and armed, this is what he takes with him
when travelling around liberated Kosovo
This a German pistol
Ramiz Muriqi was one of FARC’s commanders, and he knew very well
four of his soldiers that were arrested by Haradinaj
I was bringing that brigade from Albania to Pec,
and I knew each one of my men
The UCK requested that we subdue to their command, and we refused that
This was the reason why they arrested and killed four of us
Exactly this testimony of Ramiz Muriqi and of his cousin Vesen
sealed the fate of Daut Haradinaj
Daut Haradinaj was present during the arrest,
he was present during the transport,
he was present while FARC soldiers were being beaten
He was only absent when they were killed and dropped into a well
In Italy he would risk a life sentence,
in liberated Kosovo he got only five years in prison and soon he got back into politics
Do you know where is the problem?
The problem is that neither NATO nor UN forces have yet learnt
the way things are. These people are in real mafia groups
Mafia, like in Italy?
-Mafia, like in Italy, like in America
With respect to that. Which way did Haradinaj family made their fortune?
I don’t know this. But for sure right after the war
there was a period of anarchy
It was not only Haradinaj family that made fortune
When you were talking about anarchy in the first days
and how these persons made their fortune
did you also refer to drug smuggling and other illegal trafficking?
Sure. Kosovo is a strategic zone for drugs and prostitution
The name of this gentleman is Antonio Evangelista,
and today he is chief of the mobile team in Asti
But he was in Kosovo for four years
Here, I reserved a nook for emblems from Kosovo
Evangelista was a chief of investigating unit
with a duty to combat with terrorism and organized crime in Kosovo
He put so much passion in it that, based on his experience,
he wrote a beautiful book THE TOWER OF SKULLS
In his book there was a story that made great impression on me
It was a story about very Ramush Haradinaj
This is the scene where it all happened – villa of Musajs
Now no-one lives there because,
as Vittorio di Pucchio already told us,
the father and the sons were all killed
But before they were killed, on one evening,
here in front of the gate appeared Daut and Ramush Haradinaj,
two brothers. Both of them armed
It is obvious that when they have disputes
they have to resolve them themselves privately
This private dispute resulted with the exchange of fire
in which Ramush was wounded. And right after he was wounded
So, we are speaking here about the ex Prime Minister who was
standing behind the gate shooting at this one there, and he was wounded
They were both exchanging fire
It was not only Ramush shooting at the other guy
I am saying and trying to imagine our Prodi going to someone’s house
Prodi could hardly do something like this
enter into an armed conflict I wanted to highlight this
But then we all saw a strange thing happening
Ramush was picked up by American KFOR
and he was transported to a base in Germany to be cured,
because he was seriously wounded
When he was “brought back” to Kosovo a policeman requested clothing, since it was an evidence,
that Ramush was wearing when he was wounded
Did Americans give him these clothing?
How yes! They gave him nice and laundered ones
without any blood or bullet holes
And he told them these cannot be his clothing
because he was hit three times, especially through his trousers
This was something everyone knew
No-one deemed it smart to investigate a little bit deeper,
because they would be having grave problem with public order
You mean it was impossible to touch Ramush Haradinaj
because people would raise up to their feet?
Exactly! This would have become a problem of public order
So it was better not to investigate him. -Exactly!
But, then it happened that all of his opponents were killed off -Yes
Did you know Sadik Musaj? Did you talk to him?
Sadik? Yes. I talked to him
He believed that there was a strong prejudice in the favour
of Haradinaj family among the international organs
This was terrible
Sadik was saying that there was a foul play
He was saying “this is a foul play,
you defend Ramush and I have to take on grenades!”
Absolutely so! Regrettably, we see that what happened that night
could have been very easily investigated, without a big fuss
The facts could have been grabbed in a great tranquillity
But, instead, that night he was saved by Americans -They took him away
How come that Americans spend all this money to hire a plane and take
Ramush Haradinaj all the way to Germany? What is your opinion?
Because this is very similar to the independence of Kosovo,
which they always backed. Because in American logic
the role of Ramush Haradinaj is that he has a remarkable power
Means they play on an extremist
They should be asked about it. I would be looking
for another person, one that can be replaced
He came to the houses, he was shooting with machinegun,
but he was inside of that. He was conducting war,
he received weapons from America, like CIA was financing him
it could be that the old ties between the Americans and Ramush
Haradinaj date back to those days
Yes, this could be a key thing, which would justify many things
One last thing. As in investigator do you think
that the independence would help those criminal organizations?
I think that the problem is to whom we are handing Kosovo over
To one healthy part, or to a less healthy part
Question mark. -One huge question mark!
These were fired just a few days ago, they are fresh
You mean they did not oxidize yet
After killing witnesses in the process against Haradinaj in Kosovo
they went on to kill also the Albanian policemen
who were investigating these homicides
Here in the Decani police station Sabate Tolaj and Isuf used to work,
two great police officers
They were excellent investigators working with Antonio Evangelista
who was chief commissioner commanding the Regional Unit of Investigations
Because of their honesty and professionalism they deserved to work
at those superior positions in the station
And which way they killed them?
Once again shots from Kalashnikov killed them
They touched someone they should not have touched
Because they did not look onto anybody’s face
they were indeed true police officers. I tell this honestly
Were they investigating Haradinaj? -They were investigating Haradinaj
And they killed them? -Yes, them too were killed by his men
Sabate Tolaj, before she enrolled to police,
was the first woman pilot of a fighter jet
in the military air forces of ex Yugoslavia
Her brother worked in Germany. When Sabate was killed
he left everything and returned to Kosovo
With money he saved in Germany he bought this service station
where, for the first time, he accepts to be interviewed
It happened on November 24, 2003
She was driving in her car to her workplace
Then some persons cut the road forcing her to stop
She was killed with shots from Kalashnikov
Were the perpetrators arrested?
One of them was arrested and on September 15 of last year (2007)
he was sentenced to 27 years in prison
His name was Bedrik Krasniqi
Who gave orders to Krasniqi to kill your sister?
I can only say it was the same one whom Bedrik Krasniqi mentioned
during the court trial, that is, a month before my sister had been killed
he was working as a bodyguard for Ramush Haradinaj
Did your sister investigate Ramush Haradinaj?
Yes, she was working on the *** of Tahir Zemaj
The situation here is terrible, isn’t it so? -Very bad! It is terrible
Because they are very powerful? -Yes, they are very powerful!
Do you have confidence in Kosovo Police,
or you think it is too much linked with Ramush Haradinaj
knowing that many of his men are ex UCK fighters?
I don’t have confidence in Kosovo Police, in no-one there
Perhaps in the International Police I could have confidence
Is it because you think there is much corruption
within the local police?
Yes, much corruption. Up to now it was a disaster
We will see from now on, maybe with the independence
some things would change
Why so many murders here after the war?
You see, it is like always – about money,
about putting hands over certain positions of power
Here we have people that were shepherds before the war,
and now, believe it or not, he became a General
With big houses, big castles
Everyone here knows that. Two weeks ago
I accompanied my friend travelling to Pristina,
and he showed to me the house which Haradinaj family constructed in Pristina
Wherefrom they took all that money?
Daut Haradinaj, brother of Ramush, told me that their family was rich
No, comm'on! They were just small merchants
They had a little food shop, as big as this place here
I may not know about someone from Pristina,
but here in Decani we all know one another
We know who is rich and who is not rich
In spite of being victims
Tolaj family lives completely isolated in their village
Two twin sisters of Sabate were forced to close the clothing shop
they owned in Decani, due to the threats received from Haradinaj’s men
And they live closed inside of their house
The head of the family, Sabate’s brother,
does not even have courage to go and report about threats
to the Kosovo Police. Because he does not trust them
In the meantime Ramush Haradinaj was absolved
by the war crimes tribunal in Hague
But, the main prosecutor said that various witnesses
were intimidated, others were killed or they disappeared
Because of this the Tribunal made an appeal
for a new process against Ramush Haradinaj
Anyhow, he returned triumphantly to Kosovo,
and immediately resumed political activities
In the next episode we will tell you more about drug trafficking,
about an unstoppable river of *** which comes from Afghanistan
and arrives into Europe passing very mountains and valleys of Kosovo
Then we will pass the boundary and arrive in Macedonia
in order to reveal that the drug paths are the same ones
as those used by Kosovo Albanian terrorists
who are trying to destabilize the region
We will see them while they are training with their weapons
And these are military arsenals at their disposal
All these are arms that come through Kosovo
passing by inattentive eyes of NATO soldiers
And here you see them after accepting to be interviewed by us
with arms around their necks, with uncovered faces
Then we will see hundreds of mosques that emerged in Kosovo
at places of destroyed churches
And, for the first time, we will document,
that Al Qaida training camps exist in the Balkans,
in the heart of Europe, just an hour flight from Rome
NATO is once more unable to stop all this
At the end we will sail up the drug paths,
leave Balkans behind us, pass through Turkey,
and arrive to Afghanistan