Kurti: The State of Serbia continues to hide the truth about the murders in "Panda"

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has said that the state of Serbia "continues to hide the truth about the murder of Serbian youth even after a quarter of a century", referring to the murders in the "Panda" bar in Peja on December 14, 1998.

"...As if he continues not to accept the crimes committed against Albanians during the 1998-99 war", Kurti wrote, adding that "this silence speaks of the unchanged political mindset of Serbia towards the Republic of Kosovo".

Through an article on Facebook, Kurti said that in this bar, on December 14, 1998, the Serbian authorities "staged the murder of six young Serbs".

Kurti also published some photographs, in which it can be seen that a commemorative plaque has been placed in front of the building where the murders took place.

The Government of Kosovo had decided to put the former Panda facility under permanent protection.

With the announcement of this decision, in October 2023, the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said that the bar will serve the collective memory of the crime that, according to him, was committed by Serbia.

On the evening of December 14, 1998, around 8:00 p.m., two masked people entered the cafe and fired a volley of bullets at those inside.

Killed on the spot were: Ivan Radević, 25 years old, Ivan Obradović, 14 years old, Vukota Gvozdenović, 16 years old, and Dragan Trifović, 17 years old.

That same night, as a result of the wounds received, Svetislav Ristić, 18 years old, and Zoran Stanojević, 17 years old, died in the hospital.

"Serbia killed six young Serbs, aged 14, 16, 17, 18 and 24 years old, in the attempt of the Milosevic regime to justify ethnic cleansing and genocide in Kosovo," Kurti wrote.

The killing of six young Serbs occurred at a time when inter-ethnic tensions in Kosovo were high.

The war between the Serbian forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army had already begun.

Exactly on the day of the murders in "Panda", some members of the KLA were killed in an ambush by Serbian forces, while they were carrying weapons from Albania.

The murders in "Panda" were seen as an act of revenge, which then led to raids and arrests of Albanians in Peja.

After the murders, Agron Kollçaku, Gazmend Bajrami, Xhevdet Bajrami, Vllaznim Pergeggaj, Beqir Loxha and Behar Bajri were arrested as suspects.

All were released 12 months later by a court in Belgrade, in the absence of evidence of their involvement in the murder.

About 14 years after the incident in "Panda", in 2013, Aleksandar Vučić, who at that time was the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, hinted that the crime "might not have been committed by Albanians".

In an interview for "Pink" Television in Serbia, he said that the disclosure of these murders could be a surprise in the future.

From that time, suspicions circulated that the murder could have been staged by the Serbian authorities.

The investigation of the case by the Prosecutor's Office of Serbia, which started in 2016, is still ongoing - without result.

The prosecutor earlier told Radio Free Europe that "dozens of witnesses have been questioned and numerous material evidences have been obtained", but "the case is still under investigation".

The families of the victims in the "Panda" case are constantly asking for a meeting with Vučić, now the president of Serbia, but such a meeting has not yet taken place./rel