Arberi

Paper-evidence of the Pastasella Massacre

Behran Salihi was one of the 13 survivors of the Pastasella Massacre. Out of the total of 13, the state will no longer be able to receive the confessions of 11 of them, as they have died in the meantime. Fearing that his voice would not be heard, Salihi left a testimony while he was alive to show what he experienced on March 31, 1999.

The 106 men were killed by the Serbian paramilitaries 24 years ago, and of the survivors, only one, out of the two who are alive, is in good health to remember the horror.

Hysen Krasniqi, a resident of Pastasella, has collected documents and materials. He also has family members killed in this massacre. Among the collected materials is Salih's three-page letter describing in detail the macabre incident of the Serbian forces.

The Special Prosecutor's Office has not answered whether investigations have been carried out for this massacre.

The letter, as evidence for which, according to the residents, they were never questioned by the investigative bodies, is published in full and without interference:

On March 31, a large massacre took place in the village of Pastasel. This massacre was carried out by Serbian paramedics. So on Wednesday, March 31, at 14:00 p.m. Residents have started to leave the village. Serbian forces have started shelling from Guri i Kuq through Polluzhe. The rest came from Koznik. They came with great speed shelling the inhabitants of the villages of Pastasel, Zatriq, Polluzhe, Guri i Kuq and several villages of Kline.

A part of the tanks were above the village, the rest came closer to the people. Before the Serbian forces came near the population, they had raised white goods in the delivery point.

Well, they came running and hunting the people, when they got close, they cut the men from the women and ordered them to sit with their heads down and not to look at them. They ordered to remove their hoods. During this time, they cursed and beat a large number of men. They ordered them to take out all the things they had in their pockets (money, etc.). There they received 7200 DM, apart from these they also took money from others 100 (200), 500, 1000 etc. In the presence of women and children, the men started beating them there. There they use knives etc.

Some of the Serbian paramilitaries (6-7 people) have started checking the women and children one by one, taking ducats, money, etc. They took all the clothes you had, as well as the children's food, as well as the children's food.

They also beat them on the front part of the body, cursing them and telling them to go to Albania. As soon as they had finished working with women, it was 15-16 p.m., they started to deal with men, but they carried out massacres, especially some who were younger, they cut off your ears, noses, beat you with machine guns and kicked you. I also know these cripples by name. Likewise, the others have started beating him. Among them, from 13 years old to 90 years old. Now they have started to take the younger ones who had massacred them because this separates them from the crowd and brings them closer to each other by a distance of 50m. They shot them there (about 30 people). this is how they start with the other groups, so there were 4 groups of 119 people. Out of them, 13 slightly injured people were rescued. Of these, 10 are in the village of Pastasel, 3 in Guri t'Kuq. This shooting happened around 17:30. Those who were rescued alive stayed in the pit for about an hour until the paramilitary forces left.

(of course, when they didn't hear them talking) Fortunately for them, it was starting to get worse. They had gone across the stream, a distance of 500 meters. All these wounded are gathered there. They spent the night in the mountains where it was raining and it was very cold. The next day, April, the Serbian forces that were in the village went to the scene and started to massacre about 30 people. They took them with a tractor to Adem Beq's house, about 300 meters from the scene. Some of them were put in the house and burned, and some in the tractor. On that day (1.4.99) around 13:00 they left. The people who were on the mountain watching, immediately went to the scene. They have started to take out the bones from the soil. On April 2, we started burying. The surrounding villages also came to help. On the same day, April 2, around 11 o'clock, the Serbian forces came again, while we left back to the mountains. On April 3, we buried 106 corpses. On the 21st of April, the large Serbian forces came back and started to take out the corpses and directed them in the direction of Rahovec.

These statements were given by the people who escaped from that massacre.