Remains of 26 Serbs killed in Kosovo in 1999 buried in Serbian capital

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - October 14, 2006 Saturday

Text of report by Serbian TV on 14 October

[Presenter] The bodies of 26 Serbs and other non-Albanians, which were found in the Volujak mass grave and other locations in Kosovo-Metohija, have been buried at Belgrade's Orlovaca cemetery. The bodies of 29 killed persons were yesterday taken over at the administrative line in Merdare in a Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force] base. Following a request by their families, three bodies were buried in Nis and Plav [Montenegro].

[Reporter] After a commemorative gathering and the funeral sermon, the mortal remains of 26 Serbs, following a decision by members of their families exiled from Kosovo-Metohija, were buried in the cemetery in Orlovaca.

Twenty-three Serbs from the Orahovac municipality alone - from Retimlje and Okterusa villages - were buried. They were in July 1999 first abducted and then murdered by OVK [Kosovo Liberation Army, UCK in Albanians] terrorists. In a several-kilometres-long column, relatives, friends and citizens saw innocent victims from Kosovo-Metohija off.

The chairwoman of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo-Metohija, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, attended the commemorative gathering. She was accompanied by Veljko Odalovic, the chairman of the Commission on Missing Persons, as well as members of the Associations of Families of Abducted and Murdered Persons from Kosovo-Metohija, and members of the Association of Families of Missing Persons from Croatia.

Source: RTS 1 TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1300 gmt 14 Oct 06