Serbian human rights activist Natasha Kandić has responded to Serbian politician Ivica Dačić after he criticized the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) following the Hague verdict against former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi and other former KLA leaders.
Kandić drew a direct connection between Dačić’s Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the discovery of mass graves containing the remains of Albanians killed during the Kosovo war.
“SPS = mass graves in Serbia,” Kandić wrote, addressing Dačić, who is a senior SPS figure.
She said the policies pursued by the party had resulted in the existence of mass graves containing the remains of Kosovo Albanians transferred to locations in Serbia.
“Let me remind Minister Dačić that the policies of his Socialist Party of Serbia resulted in mass graves of Albanians killed in Batajnica, Petrovo Selo, Rudnica, the Kizhevak mine and Lake Perućac, and this is an established fact,” Kandić wrote.
The exchange follows renewed political debate over responsibility for crimes committed during the Kosovo war after the Kosovo Specialist Chambers issued its first-instance judgment against Thaçi and other former KLA leaders.
Kandić, who has spent decades documenting human rights abuses and war crimes committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, has frequently criticized Serbian authorities over their handling of crimes committed against Kosovo Albanians.
Her remarks came in response to Dačić’s public comments about the KLA, adding another layer to the competing narratives surrounding accountability for crimes committed during the 1998–1999 Kosovo war.
