Racak \u201cVictims\u201d Had Gunpowder On Their Hands And Were Known KLA Members<\/p>\n
<\/b>Written by: Andy Wilcoxson, March 2005<\/p>\n
Judge Danica Marenkovic continued her testimony at the trial of Slobodan
\nMilosevic on Thursday. She was the Investigating Judge from the Pristina
\nDistrict Court, and in January 1999 she investigated the alleged massacre in
\nthe village of Racak.<\/p>\n
Racak is an important event because it is the only war crime that Serbia is
\naccused of committing in Kosovo prior to the NATO bombing. The accusation
\nthat the Serbs perpetrated a massacre in Racak helped give political
\njustification to the NATO aggression that was launched against Yugoslavia
\nexactly six years ago today.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday Judge Marenkovic testified that a team of international
\nforensic investigators from Serbia, Belarus, and Finland determined that the
\n40 corpses found in the village were shot from a distance. They were not
\nexecuted at close-range as certain Western politicians and media had
\nclaimed.<\/p>\n
Today Judge Marenkovic testified that the forensic team identified all 40 of
\nthe bodies. The names of 36 of them can be found on the indictment against
\nMilosevic. 9 of the names listed on the indictment were not among the 40,
\nand 4 people that were found by Marenkovic are not on the indictment.<\/p>\n
The forensic analysis revealed that 37 of the 40 bodies had gunpowder
\nresidue on their hands, which indicates that they had been firing weapons
\nshortly before they died. Judge Marenkovic said that many of the bodies were
\nwearing combat boots, multiple layers of clothing, some even wore heavy
\nwoolen military pants. She also noted that most of the corpses were wearing
\nidentical leather belts.<\/p>\n
Obviously, these were not simple unarmed village folks who had been
\nmassacred in cold blood. These people were dressed to be outside, and they
\nhad gunpowder traces on their hands. They were clearly armed combatants, not
\ninnocent civilians.<\/p>\n
To take the point even further, these people were very likely members of the
\nKLA. Judge Marenkovic brought a series of police reports and official
\nwitness statements to court with her. These documents revealed that 7 of the
\n40 had been conclusively identified as members of the KLA before the 15th of
\nJanuary 1999, the day of the infamous Racak incident.<\/p>\n
The police reports and the sworn witness statements were consistent with one
\nanother and clearly demonstrated that Racak was a KLA stronghold prior to
\nJanuary 15th.<\/p>\n
The documents complemented Judge Marenkovic\u2019s testimony perfectly. As was
\nnoted yesterday, she found trenches and bunkers littered with shell casings.
\nShe also found machine gun nests, and a large quantity of weapons in the
\nvillage. All of that was videotaped and the tape was played yesterday. The
\ntape even showed the KLA headquarters in Racak complete with uniforms,
\nweapons, and a duty roster.<\/p>\n
It was clear from the videotapes played yesterday that there was an exchange
\nof fire in the village. The police, who were being videotaped by the media
\nand watched by the OSCE, were under fire from the moment they entered the
\nvillage. They could not have rounded-up people and massacred them \u2013 it
\nsimply was not possible. The police could only return fire when they were
\nshot at.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, according to Judge Marinkovic’s testimony, all of the civilians
\nhad left Racak ahead of the operation. The only ones in the village when the
\npolice arrived were the KLA.<\/p>\n
The people who were killed were obviously members of the KLA. They were
\ndressed to spend prolonged periods of time outside, they were wearing army
\nboots, and they had gunpowder traces on their hands. Things could not be
\nanymore clear.<\/p>\n
William Walker, Bill Clinton, and scores of other Western politicians
\nclearly lied when they accused the Serbian police of massacring civilians at
\nRacak. The only thing the police could do was shoot back at the people who
\nwere shooting at them.<\/p>\n
Judge Marenkovic went to the spot where Walker said the massacre had taken
\nplace and found no evidence to corroborate his claims. There were no blood
\nsplatters or fragments to indicate a massacre had happened at that spot.<\/p>\n
In addition to Racak, Judge Marenkovic testified about a real massacre that
\nthe KLA perpetrated in 1998 at Kletchka where scores of Serb and Albanian
\ncivilians, some of whom were children as young as 9 and 12 years old, were
\nraped, killed, and dismembered. There was videotape of this massacre, but
\nthe tribunal would not allow it to be played.<\/p>\n
The indictment against Milosevic also accuses Serbian police of executing
\nAlbanian prisoners at the Dubrava prison in Istok. It just so happens that
\nMrs. Marenkovic investigated the death of these prisoners as part of her
\nduties as an investigating judge.<\/p>\n
She came to the tribunal with all of the proper forensic reports and witness
\nstatements, and it emerged that the NATO bombing killed the prisoners, not
\nthe police. Eyewitnesses saw the prison being bombed by NATO warplanes, and
\nthe forensic analysis of the victims\u2019 corpses proved that they had been
\nkilled by blast injuries, not executed with firearms as the indictment
\nclaims.<\/p>\n
With that her examination-in-chief came to an end. She will be
\ncross-examined by Mr. Nice when the trial resumes on Wednesday, April 6th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Racak \u201cVictims\u201d Had Gunpowder On Their Hands And Were Known KLA Members Written by: Andy Wilcoxson, March 2005 Judge Danica Marenkovic continued her testimony at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on Thursday. She was the Investigating Judge from the Pristina District Court, and in January 1999 she investigated the alleged massacre in the village of … <\/p>\n