Gorazdevac Marks 23 Years Without Justice for Child Killings

Gorazdevac, a village near Pec, marks 23 years today since an armed attack on children who were swimming in the Bistrica River. A memorial service for the murdered boys is held at 10 a.m., led by Sava Janjic, abbot of the Visoki Decani Monastery. The same day, the schoolyard of the village elementary school hosts the opening of the fourth memorial football tournament “In Memory of Ivan and Pantelija,” which continues tomorrow as well.

The attack happened on August 13, 2003, around 1 p.m. About 30 children and young people from the village were on an improvised beach and in the water when automatic gunfire opened up on them. Ivan Jovovic, 19, was killed on the spot. Pantelija Dakic, 12, died of his wounds in a hospital in Pec. Djordje Ugrenovic, 20, Bogdan Bukumiric, 14, Dragana Srbljak, 13, and Marko Bogicevic, 12, were wounded.

The shooting came just before the announced return of around 200 displaced Serbs to that part of Metohija. The attack was condemned by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the Kosovo Force (KFOR), the European Union, the United States, Russia, France, and the provisional institutions in Pristina.

What the investigation found

Investigators from the United Nations mission established that a total of 87 bullets were fired at the children and young people. According to reports from the time, the shots came from the direction of the Albanian village of Zahac, but neither the number nor the identity of the attackers was ever established.

Stefan Feler, UNMIK’s police commissioner at the time, said his officers would “turn over every piece of ground” to find the killers. Around 70 witnesses were questioned and more than 100 houses were searched, and a reward of 1 million euros was offered for information leading to the perpetrators.

Why did the case never reach court?

The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) officially closed the investigation in 2010, citing a lack of evidence. Institutions in Pristina shut down their own inquiry five years later, in 2015. No suspect has been brought before a court since, and the village has been targeted by further attacks in the years after 2003, including recorded vandalism of the memorial to the victims.

Serbia’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija said this morning that the pain of the crime has not faded and remains etched in the memory of the Serbian people as one of the gravest losses suffered by Serbs since 1999 and the arrival of international forces in Kosovo and Metohija. The statement also notes that pressure on the remaining Serb population continues.

“Even today, as we remember the innocent victims, we are witnessing that the tensions and pressure on Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija continue. Every new attack, every long gun barrel pointed at the Serbian people, and every silence over violence is a reminder that true peace cannot exist where there is no protection for our people, nor accountability for those who committed crimes against the Serbian people”

The Office says the obligation is to remember Ivan and Pantelija, to not forget the children of Gorazdevac who were wounded, and to make sure their families are never left alone with their grief.

Families still waiting for an answer

The brothers of the murdered boys, Nemanja Dakic and Tomislav Jovovic, spoke to Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) about the anniversary and about the tournament that carries their brothers’ names. Dakic said the number of teams entered is not what matters most.

“What matters most to us is that the memory of Ivan and Pantelija is kept alive, and that the teams who come away with the best impressions, with some memory to hold on to”

Jovovic said the chances of learning who did the shooting are slim, but that the families are not giving up.

“For us as families, all that is left is to wait for justice and truth. However, the current situation in Kosovo and Metohija is not exactly good, so right now, unfortunately, the chances for justice and truth are small, but we are here to believe in it, and we hope a better tomorrow will come, when we will finally learn the justice and the truth for Ivan and Pantelija”

Dalibor Jevtic, deputy head of the Serbian List, said the unpunished crime in Gorazdevac stands alongside earlier cases in Staro Gracko, Cernica, and Livadice. Pushing for the investigations to be reopened, he said, remains a demand of his party.

“We must get an answer to the question of who committed these crimes. The people who committed these crimes must be punished for it, so that these crimes get at least some measure of justice”

A village that lost half its population in three decades

Gorazdevac was once the largest Serb village in that part of Metohija. The 1981 census recorded 1,440 residents, 72 percent of whom were Serbs.

Data from 2011 shows 570 residents, 255 of them Serbs. The memorial tournament in the schoolyard wraps up tomorrow, August 14.