(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Hans Haeckerup, the United Nations’ administrator in Kosovo, RSF expressed its serious concern following the assassination of Bekim Kastrati, from the Albanian-language daily “Bota Sot”, and the shooting of Rados Radonjic, an employee with the Serbian television station RTS, in Kosovo. “We ask that you do everything possible to […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Hans Haeckerup, the United Nations’ administrator in Kosovo, RSF expressed its serious concern following the assassination of Bekim Kastrati, from the Albanian-language daily “Bota Sot”, and the shooting of Rados Radonjic, an employee with the Serbian television station RTS, in Kosovo. “We ask that you do everything possible to establish the exact motives for these attacks and to punish those responsible,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, Kastrati was killed in an ambush on 19 October 2001, in the town of Srbica (central Kosovo). Besim Dajaku, a member of moderate Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova’s security detail, was also killed in the attack, and a third person was wounded. The three men had just participated in a demonstration in support of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), which was organised in the context of legislative elections slated for 17 November. The three men were returning to their homes when their vehicle was overtaken by a jeep, whose occupants opened fire on them with machine guns. The daily “Bota Sot” is considered to be close to Rugova’s LDK. Rugova stated that the attack was “politically motivated,” adding, “we consider this assassination to be an attack against the LDK, against Kosovo’s institutions and against the UNMIK [United Nations Mission in Kosovo], as well as against press freedom.”
A few hours later, Radonjic was shot and seriously wounded at his home. The incident took place in Devet Jugovica (about ten kilometres north of Pristina), an isolated Serb village in Albanian territory where many inter-ethnic conflicts have erupted over the past two years. According to the Yugoslavian agency Tanjug, the journalist caught unknown individuals trying to steal his cattle. They opened fire on him as he was trying to intervene.
