UNS on murders and disappearances of journalists in Kosovo

Investigating the kidnapping of Ljubomir Knezevic, a journalist from Pristina's Jedinstvo, and a correspondent of Belgrade's Politika, the Journalists Association of Serbia (UNS) found that in 2001, the lawyer Stoja Djuricic, suspected that he was kidnapped by a group led by Gani Ymeri, KLA in the Vucirn region.

She, as the representative of the injured parties, asked for the extension of the then ongoing investigation into the kidnapping of the six men and the attempted murder of a Serb civilian, which was led before the Mitrovica District Court against Gani Ymeri.

According to the UNS' findings, a little after that, the investigation against Ymeri began to crumble due to open murder threats against the protected witness.

When the international investigative judge Leonard Assira, due to threats against the protected witnesses, allowed the testimony of the investigator, he was excluded at the request of the defense, along with the international prosecutor Matti Hynynen.

(uns.org,rs)

After the threat, and prosecutor's and judge's replacement, the investigation reached a dead end, and the suspect has been released from the custody after five months.

The family of Ljubomir Knezevic has not heard a word about this so far.

- Nobody informed us. This is what we are hearing from you now, said Ljubomir's son Goran for the UNS Dossier.

The suspected KLA commander

Former Commander Gani Ymeri is the first member of the KLA suspected of serious crimes against Serb civilians. He was arrested on November 24, 2001, while traveling from Vucitrn to Pristina, under suspicion he kidnapped Nenad Mihajlovic, Aleksandar Mihajlovic, Branimir Mihajlovic, Vladimir Mihajlovic and Vladimir Mladenovic, an attempt murder...