Twenty-six years ago, the world learned the name of Recak, a small village that few had heard of. There, genocide was being committed by Serbian police and military forces, who killed 45 Albanian civilians, among them children, women and the elderly. All documented, but Serbia still denies the massacre of January 15, 1999, which marked a major turning point in the history of Kosovo.
Senior Serbian officials, starting with President Aleksandar Vucic, have consistently denied the massacre, calling it a “staged” and “lie.” This is not new, as politicians in Serbia have historically attempted to distort the truth in the Balkans.
But there are international reports and archival sources about the horror that occurred in this village, says History professor Selim Bezeraj.The first to tell the world that a crime against humanity was being committed in this village of Shtime was the then head of the OSCE Verification Mission in Kosovo, William Walker.
He visited Recak the day after the massacre and after seeing the bodies of civilians said that “this is a grave crime against humanity”.
