Newspaper: Arbëri. Date: 22 Shkurt 2016 (22 February 2016)
Page: 5 (KOHA Ditore)
Afirm Shabi, a survivor of the 1991 events in Peja, says that the bones of the victims from the Rrugova, Spitali, and Mushkëria neighborhoods are still lying in mass graves, and no Albanian institutions have shown interest in investigating them.
By Ilir Osmanaj
Peja, 21 February – The 91-year-old Isuf Muqolli from the Katundi i Ri neighborhood in Peja says that the bones of the victims from the 1944–45 massacres still lie in the open, unburied and without any investigation.
He personally witnessed how the Yugoslav communist forces massacred dozens of civilians in 1944 in the areas of Rrugova, Spitali, and Mushkëria. According to him, the victims were mostly men, but there were also women and children among them.
Muqolli says that after the massacres, the victims were thrown into pits and caves. He personally saw how, in one location called “Tabje”, the communists executed and then buried around 3,600 people (the exact number is disputed in different accounts).
Afirm Shabi, another witness and survivor, states that the institutions show no interest in investigating these mass graves.
He says: “These bones and these victims cry out for justice, but no one is listening to them. The authorities have no will to investigate these crimes.”
The article details how, after the massacres committed by Yugoslav partisan forces in late 1944 and early 1945 in the Peja region, hundreds of Albanian civilians were killed and thrown into mass graves (especially in the Tabje area).
Survivors and witnesses claim that despite many years having passed, no serious investigation has been conducted by Kosovo institutions, and the remains have not been exhumed or given proper burial.
Key points emphasized in the article:
- Mass graves containing victims from 1944–1945 still exist in the Tabje area near Peja.
- Witnesses (Isuf Muqolli, Afirm Shabi, etc.) are calling for exhumation and proper burial.
- Albanian institutions in Kosovo are accused of showing little to no interest in investigating these communist-era massacres.
- The article calls the situation a “shame” and demands that the truth be uncovered and the victims honored.
