Kosovo: Thousands attend funeral of slain Serbian youth

Belgrade, 10 Nov. (AKI) - Thousands of Serbs attended funeral of a local youth on Thursday, killed the day earlier in northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica, blaming the international community for tolerating crimes against Serbs.

The youth, Savo Mojsic, 28, late Wednesday was killed and two Serbs were wounded when guns fired on a group of quarreling Serbs and Albanians in Mitrovica section of Brdjane.

Mitrovica mayor Krstimir Pantic said the shots were fired from from a house known to be a hideout of “Albanian extremists.” Kosovo police spokesman Besim Hoti said several houses had been searched but “nothing suspicious” was found. The investigation was continuing, he said.

Momir Kasalovic, Mitrovica deputy mayor, said Wednesday incident was the third murder of a Serb this month and blamed the international community for turning a “blind eye” to such crimes.

Tensions have been high in northern Kosovo for the past three months because local Serbs, who oppose Kosovo independence declared by majority Albanians, have set up road blocks in protest against placing of Kosovo police at two northern border crossings.

The Serbian government, which doesn’t recognize Kosovo independence, on Thursday called on the European Union police in Kosovo (EULEX) to take over the investigation, saying Albanian police couldn’t be trusted.

Kruna Kalicanin, assistant minister for Kosovo in Serbian government, said more than one thousand Serbs had been killed since Kosovo was put under international control in 1999 but “almost no one was charged.”

She pointed to the killing of 14 Serbs harvesting wheat in July 1999 in the village of Staro Gracko and numerous other examples for which no one was prosecuted. She said EULEX and NATO forces in Kosovo have been ignoring and “minimizing Serb victims”

Serbian pro-European government has been soft-pedaling Kosovo problems for the sake of joining the European Union. Only five out of 27 EU members have not recognized Kosovo.

“We can’t pay with our blood Serbia’s entry into the EU,” Kasalovic said at the funeral which passed without incident.