The former head of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, William Walker, has stated that Kosovo is among the most democratic countries in the world.
Speaking at the commemorative academy marking the 27th anniversary of the Reçak Massacre, he praised the country’s development, saying such progress would have been unimaginable 27 years ago.
“I heard words and praised, deserved for sure for the KLA, for those who flew in bombs from NATO and produces what we see today. And obviously, if you had told me 27 years ago today that I would have been standing in front of a prime minister and a president of the democratically elected independent Republic of Kosovo, I would have told you were crazy. All you represent for me is the fact that so much has changed in a mere 27 years. Everything you represent to me is proof of how much has changed in just 27 years. So I just want to mention that in the past, but what I do want to mention also is that one group of people who, I think, deserve a lot of respect and gratitude for what they did to make the emergence of the Republic of Kosovo as it is today,” he said.
Before those present, Walker also highlighted the role played by more than 1,200 volunteers from 30 OSCE member states in the OSCE Verification Mission during that period.
He also underlined that he did not feel fear at any moment during his time in Kosovo with the OSCE mission while bearing witness to the truth of the Reçak Massacre.
In the early morning of January 15, 1999, the village of Reçak awoke surrounded by Serbian criminal forces. Children, adults, and the elderly were brutally killed there.
At the Memorial Complex in Reçak, a statue of William Walker has been erected—the man who was the first to describe the massacre in this village as a crime against humanity. At the time, he was the head of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission.
The grave events in Reçak prompted an international response, after which NATO decided to strike Serbian military and police targets.
The Special Prosecution has filed an indictment, with a proposal for trial in absentia, against 21 individuals suspected of war crimes against the civilian population in Reçak. They are accused of the killing of 45 civilians. /KosovaPress/
