VZCZCXRO1998
OO RUEHAST
DE RUEHPS #0554/01 1781603
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271603Z JUN 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6255
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0742
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFIUU/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000554 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE 
NSC FOR BRAUN 
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI 
EUR/ACE FOR DROGERS, MOKEEFE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID KCRM KDEM KJUS PGOV PINR PREL YI UNMIK
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: CONTROVERSY CONTINUES OVER ICTY VISIT; 
KRUSHE E VOGEL SURVIVORS STILL BELIEVE BODIES CAN BE FOUND 
 
REF: A. PRISTINA 461 
 
     ¶B. THE HAGUE 01294 
     ¶C. PRISTINA 282 
     ¶D. PRISTINA 480 
 
PRISTINA 00000554  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Several widows from the Krushe e 
Vogel/Mala Krusa massacre say they first assisted a visiting 
UN convoy on May 25, but then grew suspicious when the convoy 
showed interest in the local Serb graveyard and the homes of 
former Serb residents.  One widow expressed no remorse over 
attacking international police, and continues to assert that 
at least one Serb former resident was in the convoy.  Head of 
UNMIK's Department of Justice Al Moskowitz said the identity 
of one of the Serbs in the convoy is not certain and is being 
investigated.  Authorities have found and identified the 
remains of only 14 of the 112 victims of the massacre. 
Family members believe that the perpetrators, who they say 
have information that could lead to the discovery of the 
remains of the 98 victims who are still missing, are living 
freely in Serbia and Western Europe.  The Acting Director of 
UNMIK's Office of Missing Persons and Forensics believes 
Serbs burned the rest of the victims beyond possible 
identification and they will never be found.  END SUMMARY. 
 
WIDOWS ASSISTED UNMIK CONVOY UNTIL SUSPICIONS AROUSED 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Seven of the widows of the Krushe e Vogel/Mala 
Krusa massacre told PolOff and PolFSN on June 21 that 
approximately 20 UN vehicles came unannounced to their 
village on May 25 and drove around visiting several sites 
(Ref A).  The widows said that at first they thought maybe 
the convoy had come to return the bodies of their missing, 
and this generated a great deal of excitement and interest. 
(NOTE.  Of the 112 victims of the Krushe e Vogel massacre, 98 
remain missing.  END NOTE.).  They said that four people 
(three police officers and one interpreter) got out and 
toured the massacre site, and residents told them about the 
events of March 25 and 26, 1999.  The widows said residents 
were cooperative until several of the vehicles aroused 
suspicion by stopping at the Serb graveyard and driving past 
the homes of former Serb residents. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Nezire Batusha, who lost her husband and two sons, 
aged 15 and 21, said she confronted the visitors, and 
demanded to know if there were any Serbs in the convoy. 
Batusha claimed she and her brother-in-law approached the 
convoy and recognized two formQSerb neighbors inside the 
vehicles.  Batusha said that in the ensuing melee, an 
international policeman hit her in the kidneys and an UNMIK 
vehicle ran over her foot.  The petite and mild-mannered 
woman said she attacked the policeman and drew blood, and 
"would have kept fighting, but for the (tear) gas."  Batusha 
said she was hospitalized for ten days after the incident. 
She said she and the others would fight any Serbs who attempt 
to return to Krushe e Vogel. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Agron Limani, whose father and 23 year-old brother 
died in the massacre, told PolOff and PolFSN on June 21 that 
village residents were satisfied with apologies from 
Principle Deputy SRSG Steve Schook and Police Commissioner 
Kai Vittrup and with their promises to notify residents in 
advance of any future visits.  However, he added that the 
officials heightened the resident's suspicions during a 
recent visit when they refused to clarify who was in the 
convoy.  Limani said he has a contact who was traveling with 
the convoy who claims there were seven Serbs in the convoy. 
Limani said the contact claims the convoy's participants 
included the wartime commander of the Yugoslav army garrison 
at Prizren, three former residents of the village, and three 
Serbs that the contact did not recognize. 
 
 
PRISTINA 00000554  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Head of UNMIK's Department of Justice (DOJ) Al 
Moskowitz told PolOff on June 27 that there were four Serbs 
in the convoy, including two interpreters and two &VIPs.8 
He said one of the VIPs was Tomislav Visnjic, Lead Counsel at 
the ICTY for General Dragoljub Ojdanic, while the other 
identified himself as an ICTY investigator (Ref B). 
Moskowitz said UMMIK is investigating the identity of the 
second VIP, who might have been a former resident of the 
village traveling under an assumed name.  Moskowitz said the 
UNMIK Civil Police who organized the visit considered giving 
advance notice to the residents, but decided that doing so 
would increase the security risk.  According to UNMIK 
spokesman Gyorgy Kakuk, a preliminary investigation by the 
DOJ determined that "a number of mistakes were made in the 
process of approving and planning this visit." 
 
98 OF 112 VICTIMS STILL MISSING 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Limani said only two of the 112 victims have been 
returned to their families, and 12 more were in the Office of 
Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF) morgue in 
Rahovec/Orahovac.  Acting OMPF director Valerie Brasey told 
PolOff on June 22 that the 12 sets of remains consisted of 
assorted bones that were found last year near Prizren and 
identified as Krushe e Vogel victims.  She said the families 
accepted OMPF's recommendation that the remains be held at 
the OMPF morgue in Rahovec in case more bones are later 
identified and matched to those bodies. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) However, Brasey said she believes that the other 
victims were burned beyond identification and will never be 
found.  She said none of the bodies found in mass graves in 
Serbia have been linked to Krushe e Vogel, nor does she 
expect any to be.  (NOTE.  Victims of a similar massacre in 
the adjacent village of Krushe e Madhe were found in mass 
graves in Serbia, and 45 of them were repatriated to Kosovo 
and buried on March 26 (Ref C).  END NOTE). 
 
FAMILY MEMBERS BELIEVE THE BODIES CAN BE FOUND 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Limani, however, believes at least eight more 
bodies are in the Prizren area, based on information from a 
Kosovo Albanian doctor who says Serbs forced him to conduct 
autopsies on 20 Krushe e Vogel victims.  Limani expressed 
frustration that former Kosovo Serb neighbors who 
participated in the massacre, and a Serb prosecutor who he 
says was present at the autopsies, still have not been 
investigated, charged and arrested.  Limani insisted that 
these people have information about what happened to the rest 
of the bodies, and said the fate of the missing could easily 
be resolved if there was the political will to do so. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Limani said the international community was 
destabilizing Kosovo by protecting Serbs and insisting on the 
implementation of standards instead of helping the victims. 
He criticized western nations who he says have given refugee 
status to Serbs from the village who were involved in the 
crimes and should instead be treated as "common criminals." 
He urged UNMIK to issue Interpol warrants on the Serbs who 
participated in the massacre, and to seek their extradition 
to Kosovo for trial.  (NOTE.  Moskowitz said he has tried 
unsuccessfully to convince war crimes judges and prosecutors 
in Belgrade to send suspects to Kosovo for trial by 
international prosecutors and judges.  END NOTE). 
 
FUNDING FOR INVESTIGATIONS AND EXHUMATIONS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (SBU) UNMIK's Department of Justice has asked the USG 
for USD 180,000 to fund the review of several thousand files 
that could assist with war crimes prosecutions.  OMPF has 
also requested 200,000 euros to fund ongoing exhumations, 
 
PRISTINA 00000554  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
including both new cases and re-exhumations (requested by 
families) of conflict victims who were buried immediately 
after the war without concrete identification and for whom no 
death certificates were issued (Ref D).  OMPF program officer 
Klaire Kasibayo told PolOff on June 26 that because a major 
exhumation scheduled for June was canceled due to 
insufficient leads, OMPF now has approximately 90,000 euros 
remaining from the USD 300,000 OMPF received from the USG in 
2005 for exhumations.  She said this can fund exhumations 
through the end of October 2006. 
 
¶11. (SBU) COMMENT.  The ordeal that these women suffered in 
no way excuses their attack on visiting international police 
officers and attorneys.  However, it underscores the need to 
bring justice to the victims and close missing persons cases, 
even those for which bodies may never be found.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶12.  (U)  Post clears this message in its entirety for 
release to Special Envoy Ahtisaari. 
GOLDBERG