yugoslavias implosion

whomever they can, married women and girls, old women, as well
as ten-year-olds. They rape them everywhere, in public places, at
bus stops, in ambulance cars.” 347 (The year this statement appeared
only one case of rape was registered in the whole of Kosovo.) 348
The media campaign induced a nationwide psychosis; a segment
of the Serbian population, the nationalists in particular, developed
persecution mania. A system built on “prejudice, perception and
emotion by which to gauge all evidence of the Serb national identity
being subordinated, threatened or disrespected” had been established.
Even “conclusive arguments” were fabricated at times. 349
A group of independent intellectuals in Belgrade set up a commission
whose report refuted most of the accusations against Albanians
leveled by the Serbian propaganda machine, particularly those
alleging the rape of Serbian women. The commission concluded that
the “image of Kosovo, built up in recent years, as a region in which
the criminal offence of rape by far preponderates is incorrect. The
allegation that Albanians rape solely or mostly female members of
Serb nationality, an allegation made to draw the conclusion about
there being ‘nationalist’ rapes calculated at driving the Serbs and
Montenegrins from Kosovo, is incorrect.” The report maintained
that “with regard to this particular criminal offence in Kosovo, procedure
by the investigating authorities and penal policy there do not
deviate from the average for the sfry or other parts of Serbia for that
matter.” 350
This report was the first attempt in Serbia to deal with the
Kosovo question in a different way, that is, on the basis of verified
facts. The commission also concluded that in a situation of “troubled
347 Đorđije Vuković, Theoria, 3–4/1987, p . 56 .
348 Report of the Independent Commission: Kosovski čvor: dresiti ili seći?
(The Kosovo knot: to untie or to cut?), Chromos, Beograd, 1990 .
349 Dušan Janjić, Borba, May 30–31, 1987 .
350 Report of the Independent Commission: Kosovsk ičvor: dresiti ili seći?
(The Kosovo knot: to untie or to cut?, Chromos, Beograd, 1990 .
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