A Crime and a Secret

More than half a year after the collapse of the former regime, its secrets are still greatly kept in the dark. Some moments which relate to money and wealth and which can’t be hidden are being uncovered, people are more prepared to own up to such things in the hope that they can redeem themselves, but it seems as though there aren’t many trails which lead to all those “extraordinary corpses”, and the mystery of Ivan Stambolic’s disappearance isn’t any lesser today than it was on the first day.   

However, this isn’t criticism of the government, since now not only the former president, but also the top official of his secret police are in jail, and one could say that the police minister is still making an effort in that direction. It is less a question of the new government’s lack of capability and more of the murderous efficiency of the former, of conspiratorial loyalty, well organized crimes and the readiness of a part of the Mafia to cover up and survive all revolutionary changes. That is why police minister Mihajlovic has no intention of boasting about the arrests but instead warns that the Mafia is prepared to take over the state. I hope he’s overdoing things, but in these issues I would like to be able to rely on something a bit more solid than hope.

Therefore, just as we understood that the assassinations and kidnappings in Belgrade aren’t easily resolved, the Danube waters ejected a heap of corpses. That happened two years ago, but the story was then put under lock of a “government secret”, which means that there is no hope that they were someone else’s corpses who happened to drift here from, let’s say, Hungary. If we were more or less powerless in the face of everyday, individual assassinations, what can we say now when something that has the markings of a war crime has drifted to us?

If someone tries to drown a mass of corpses in a refrigerated truck, if that happened during the war, if the state covered it up, then it is practically certain that they were Albanian civilians. In the best case unintentional, collateral victims. I know only too well all that can be said in defense of the probable culprits who are somewhere here in our vicinity. Yes, that was the time of the NATO bombardment, yes, we had civilian casualties on our side, yes, these ones from the Danube could have been UCK’s (Kosovo Liberation Army) human shield, but whatever the case, something has to be done about so many corpses.

First of all, it is very probable that this is only a small sample. There were a lot of uncertified stories on such transports from Kosovo back then. If we claim to be a Christian country, if on top of that many believe that the Orthodox religion would have be to present in schools, hospitals, army barracks and everywhere else, then we shouldn’t doubt that God has seen what was hidden from the people. Does anyone believe that our Lord would understand and forgive that and that our only problem is Carla del Ponte who refuses to understand?

If we would want to avoid The Hague tribunal, that definitely shouldn’t be because we don’t believe that crimes had occurred – since evidence has now surfaced – nor because we have some sort of justification – because others had done it as well – since we ourselves don’t believe such justifications. I want to say that, in the measure in which there is some moral feeling in us, it isn’t possible to overlook such things, even if no earthly court ever finds out about it. Or, if it is true that courts take on a certain part of God’s authority in establishing justice, then the attempt to hide the corpses would be both a criminal and blasphemous act. That means that now, on account of The Hague and God, we would have to use all our strength to investigate and resolve this and all other similar issues in the best way we can. What is in question here is only in a lesser degree political problems and practical difficulties which we could have in our relation with the outside world if we don’t do anything. It would be more difficult to survive a mass gangrene of consciousness, which, the gangrene that is, is already far gone.

Maybe we find ourselves on the field of mysticism here, but I truly believe that non-punishment of crimes permanently poisons the human community and that, if we wouldn’t feel the hardships on account of something like this, it would only mean that we have lost all basic human characteristics. In that sense, as far as I am concerned, God is the most successful and most important universal metaphor, and serious crimes are the best chance to assess its validity and presence in society. What I have in mind is the relation of society towards a crime which has nothing to do with proof but is an automatic, reflex rejection and attempt to find the culprit and demand punishment.

If in such cases we don’t look for the culprit and don’t think about punishment, then no court, not even The Hague one, can help us. That would mean that we, as a society, are already punished by a return to the Garden of Eden senselessness. Or, if someone prefers local mythology, that would appear like the loss of both empires which are mentioned exactly in connection with Kosovo. If this country had already become a normal one, this entire tirade would be superfluous, the authorized services would momentarily get down to business, and the public would be thoroughly horrified, for a long time.  

However, things won’t be exactly like that here, since all the authorized services have already been taken over and because the public finds itself in a state of callousness. Such bad news and such morbid stories are something only a few can still digest, and I’m afraid that any kind of media campaign in which the people would face up to such things would only result in channel switching. For now, it would suffice if the police were to conduct an efficient investigation, to uncover something and someone, to inform us of it and for the courts to mete out some kind of punishment. As far as true moral indignation is concerned, we should wait for the next, young and rested generation for such a thing, and this current one can only prepare the field for it. Not to leave behind an impenetrable shield of lies and hatred towards everything and everyone.

Finally, as goes without saying, if after Stambolic the disappearance of a refrigerated truck with a heap of corpses remains a mystery as well, I don’t see what anyone can say to Ms. Del Ponte when she drops by next time.