The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, has asked official Belgrade not to defend those accused of sexual crimes during the war in Kosovo.

Speaking in the documentary “Echo of Pain” (“ Jehona e Dhimbjes”) by journalist Andrea Dangli in Euronews Albania, Osmani says that Serbia has become a shield for the paramilitaries by not allowing them to confront the justice institutions in Pristina.

“Those who committed the crimes and those who supported those crimes, i.e. the Serbian state, have never shown a willingness to face the past and therefore bring the people who committed these crimes to justice,” said Osmani.

She underlines that Kosovo has already set up a model system for handling and addressing the problems of survivors of sexual violence during the war.

“As a society, I believe that we have been extremely emancipated since those post-war moments and until today. Today, the Kosovar society, the state of Kosovo, largely supports all the survivors of this terrible crime. Kosovo is one of the few countries in the world that has established a successful system of support for survivors of sexual violence during the war by creating a government commission that also financially supports these survivors”, said Osmani.

The documentary “Echoes of pain” came from journalist Andrea Danglili in Euronews Albania, with 4 of the 20 thousand stories of rape during the Kosovo war. Through their confessions, the four survivors of sexual violence reiterated their call for justice.