On August 21, 1998, journalist Đuro Slavuj and driver Ranko Perenić, were set off on the blue "Zastava 128" towards the monastery Sveti Vrači (Holy Healers) in Zočište, a village near Orahovac, in Kosovo.
They went on a work assignment from Priština to inform the public about the release of the monks who had previously been kidnapped. Tragically, Đuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenić never reached their destination. They have been missing since that hot August day.
The pending question - where are they? - families drag their unanswered pleas like a ponderous burden that breaks their shoulders and follows them through every step of their lives.
For fellow journalists - the question - where they are - like an eerie echo reverberates ominously all around to be quickly sucked up by some ghostly black hole of indifference and evasiveness.
There is no answer, although the message is clear. Criminals are in the shadows, walking freely among us. Impunity reigns.
We are reminded that when crimes go unpunished, free speech is a bleeding target. Ending impunity is a bare minimum of rule of law and democracy.
The fight against oblivion
In the memory of missing colleagues Đuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenić and fighting against obliviation, the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) placed a plaque on the road between Zočište and Orahovac.
The plaque reads in Serbian and Albanian language: "Here on August 21, 1998, our fellow journalists were kidnapped. We are looking for them".
Every year, journalists and family members gather to remind the public of the crime that has gone without punishment and to send a clear message that they will not give up in their demands for investigation, truth and justice.
Standing next to the plaque the faces of Snežana Perenić, the wife of Ranko Perenić, and Predrag Slavuj, the nephew of Đura Slavuj, clearly reflect that they are reliving the most tragic moments of their family history.
With a huge emotional effort, Predrag managed to say a few words: "Thank you to fellow journalists who remember my uncle Đura and his colleague. Even after 26 years we have not found out anything, it all kills families, at least let the truth be known", he finished in a trembling voice.
"Those of us who have been coming for years to this plaque that has been demolished nine times and nine times rebuilt, we know that we will look for them as long as there is us, as long as there are ideas about this profession, as long as there are ideas about freedom, as long as there are ideas about a normal life, the idea that we can look into each other's faces and eyes as human beings, we will look for all 17 of our kidnapped, murdered and missing colleagues," said Živojin Rakočević, president of the Journalists Association of Serbia.
The head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, the UK diplomat, Michael Davenport underlined that solving the fate of the missing is essential for reconciliation, dialogue and peace.
"The OSCE Mission welcomes the recent adoption of the motion on missing and murdered journalists from 1998-2005 at the meeting of the European Federation of Journalists in May. We are here today to pay our respects to the victims, to show support for the families and to stand up against impunity for these terrible crimes," Davenport said.
The rule of law
The names of Ranko Perenić and Đuro Slavuj are among those of a tragic series of uninvestigated disappearances and murders of journalists in Kosovo.
While performing their work, between 1998 and 2005, 20 ethnic Albanian and Serbian journalists and media workers, as well as the team of the German Stern magazine, were killed, kidnapped or "disappeared" in Kosovo.
Only one crime was resolved in court proceedings before the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia). In 19 of these cases, no one has been held accountable.
As the situation on the ground was shifting politically, the investigation of murders, kidnappings and disappearances of journalists and media workers shifted as well.
In 1998 the rule of law mandate was held by the Serbian police and prosecutor's office, but from June 10, 1999 this came under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), which until 2008 had executive authority under UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
As of 2008, executive authority for the rule of law, and thus responsibility for investigating and prosecuting crimes, has been in the hands of the European Union Mission for the Rule of Law (EULEX).
However, from 2014 the executive mandate for investigation and prosecution was handed over in stages by EULEX to the Priština authorities.
Motions
Numerous appeals of journalists have crashed against the wall of silence by those having the power to decide on fair investigations.
Over all these years, it is humiliating and degrading that the international community and local institutions have been unable to form a commission to deal with murders, kidnappings and missing journalists and media workers.
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) adopted a motion on investigations into the killings of journalists in Kosovo in 2018 at the annual meeting in Portugal. In October 2021, at their annual meeting in Zagreb the EFJ adopted a new motion, calling for the prompt establishment of an International Commission of Experts to investigate the killings, kidnappings and “disappearances” of journalists and media workers in Kosovo between 1998 and 2005.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in November of 2021 sent a letter addressed to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti demanding an investigation of killings of journalists, urging the government to dispel the impression of indifference in the face of deadly assaults against journalists and unsolved cases of disappearances and murders.
At the annual meeting of the EFJ in Priština in May 2024, the third consecutive resolution on murdered and missing journalists in Kosovo was unanimously adopted, again calling for the formation of an International Commission of Experts to investigate the murders of journalists and media workers.
To stop the circle of impunity
One instance of impunity easily leads to further killing and strengthens the sentiment that killing a journalist will likely go unpunished.
The eerie constant of our journalistic work is that even today, in the most terrifying conditions of war, journalists still go to do their job, to send accurate and timely information to the public.
Today, a tragedy is unfolding on the Gaza Strip, “journicide” as described by the IFJ. According to the IFJ, at least 124 journalists and media workers have been killed in the last ten months.
These are lives most brutally taken, families permanently destroyed. A profession decimated.
We see images of blood, sounds of screams and crying. This is the smell of death. Not only of individuals, but of a profession.
And we must do everything possible as journalists and human beings to end this. We must do everything in our power to combat impunity for murders of journalists.
At the same time, the “radio silence” surrounding the case of Đuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenić sends a chilling message that the hidden power still breaks the bread of truth. A quarter of a century after the event, the truth remains somewhere deeply buried.
Impunity has become a fact and it has been for a long time. At this time, like never before, there is no excuse for not seeing that impunity for one crime against journalists sets an example, a precedent, and leads to the expectation of impunity for other crimes. It creates a spiral of violence and fear.
That is why we have no right to remain silent. Neither as a profession, nor as human beings. We must put a full stop. Now.
This article has been written by investigative journalist Jelena L. Petković. She has been working for many years on combating impunity for crimes against journalists and has over many years conducted research into the killing and disappearance of journalists in Kosovo. She has conducted interviews with more than 200 interlocutors: relatives, colleagues, acquaintances and members of international missions, disclosing new information on the disappearances and killings.