Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told "collaborators" or sympathizers with the Serbian authorities. The mass killing at Racak/Recak (Stimlje/Shtime municipality) on 15 January 1999 was an event both definitive in terms of establishing international recognition that human rights violations were at the core of the Kosovo confict, and (together with two other incidents later that month in Djakovica/Gjakova municipality, at Rogovo/Rogove and Rakovina/Rakovine) indicative of what was to follow in the period from late March. The more frequent occurrence in the period of the OSCE-KVM's presence in Kosovo was, however, killings on an individual basis. The phenomenon of unattributed killings The OSCE-KVM dealt with many cases which appeared linked to the security crisis, which appeared to follow a given pattern, but which could not be attributed firmly to one party or the other. The effect of these very frequent incidents was to heighten fears and tensions in both the Kosovo Albanian and Serb 2 communities. Regularly in such cases a victim would be abducted then killed usually within a very short period of time. The situation in the town of Pec/Peja is illustrative. Eleven suspicious [and unresolved] deaths of local Kosovo Albanian men occurred between 1 and 31 January 1999, all within a short distance from Pec and all shot in the head at close range. The police were quick to conclude that they were "loyal Albanians" and therefore the likely suspects were the UCK. The term "loyal Albanian" was a common term often used by the police for many of the killings they investigated where the victim was a Kosovo Albanian. The term was used to indicate that the UCK had killed the person because of the victim's real or supposed loyalty to Serbia. Local Kosovo Albanians, however, feared that there were extreme Serbian nationalist group(s) at work. These killings quickly led to fear in both the Kosovo Albanian and Serb communities of Pec, who were afraid to go out at night. Some of the dead were professional people and there was an increasing fear amongst the professional and educated Kosovo Albanians that they would be targeted. Killings of Kosovo Albanians by Serbian forces At Racak on 15 January, 45 Kosovo Albanians were killed. Events at Racak and facts as verified by the OSCE-KVM indicated evidence of arbitrary detentions, extra-judicial killings and the mutilation of unarmed civilians by the security forces of the FRY. The OSCE-KVM team, upon investigation on 16 January, found 40 bodies in different locations (five others had already been removed for burial by relatives). All had been shot. Some of the dead showed signs of having been killed arbitrarily at close range, including 20 men who were reportedly arrested the day before; others appeared to have been shot whilst running away. Some of the bodies had been decapitated. Among the dead were a woman and a 12year-old child. Accounts of surviving residents said they recognized some of the policemen who took part in the actions as being from Stimlje/Shtime town. They also claimed that they recognized some of the assailants as being Serb civilians from Stimlje dressed in police uniforms. At a meeting in February the OSCE-KVM noted that a police commander in Urosevac/Ferizaj attributed the Racak killings on 15 http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch5.htm (2 of 15)12/5/2003 11:50:53 AM