Kamberi seeks investigative commission in Serbia for the death of Albanian soldiers in the Yugoslav Army in the years

Shaip Kamberi, the representative of Albanians in Serbia's Parliament, announced Wednesday that he has submitted a request for the establishment of a special parliamentary commission to investigate cases of the death of Albanian soldiers in the then Yugoslav Army during the years 50.

Kamberi made this request to Serbia's Parliament Speaker Anna Brnabyq, at a time when Serbia is preparing to restore mandatory military service to the country.

In demand, Kamberi stresses that there is concern in the Presevo Valley for the possible appeal of Albanian youth to carry out military service, “past and its consequences still affect the collective consciousness of Albanians”.

In a report on its Facebook account, Kamberi demanded the whitelight of the death of 135 Albanian soldiers in the ranks of the Yugoslav People's Army (APJ) during the years BAR80.

Many of these cases, recorded as suicides, "%xidente or disciplinary violation, were considered suspicious by the families of the victims, which often reported signs of violence on return troops”, Kamberi said.

He said that the lack of independent and transparency investigations for those murders has strengthened their conviction that “we have to do with killings with ethnic and political motives, in a period when Albanians in the APJ faced discrimination, stigmatisation and outright hostility”.

This phenomenon has remained silent and undocumented in public discourse in Serbia, reflecting a serious lack of face and institutional discrimination against Albanians”, he stressed.

Kamberi stressed that, if approved, the commission would include representatives of civil society and the Albanian community.

Return of mandatory military service to Serbia

According to Kamberi, the return of mandatory service raises concern among Albanians in the Presevo Valley due to “painful historical experiences in discriminatory treatment and tragedies suffered in the past by young Albanians who were in service in APJ”.

More than 60,000 Albanians live in Serbia, who make up the fourth largest minority there, according to the latest population census in 2022.

Albanians in the Presevo Valley ʹ term used for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujancin, Albanian-run municipality in southern Serbia, constantly complain of discrimination.

In international reports, Presevo Valley is considered completely isolated and is said to receive attention only in election times.

Serbian authorities began work on returning mandatory military service last year.

Last summer, the Serbian Government said that mandatory military service, which was abolished on January 1st 2011, would be restored in 2025.

This week, Serbia's Army Chief of General Staff Milan Mojsilovic, the country has not given up returning mandatory military service, but added that intensive preparations are under way.

According to him, considerable tools have been invested to regulate barracks and buy equipment.

He added that the next step would be “the adoption of the legal field by what we want, 75 days of military service”, and it appears Serbia's Assembly adopts law on the matter. / REL/ Periscopi/