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| Saranda Bogujevci showing her arm with marks of Serbian soldier's bullets |
The Deputy Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Saranda Bogujevci, spoke at the Council of Europe's Parliament while discussing the security situation in the north of the country following the Serbian aggression on September 24.
She even showed the scars on her hands caused by the Serbian army during the massacre she survived at the age of 13.
"As a 13-year-old, I survived a massacre by the Serbian army, which at that time was led by the same people who now lead Serbia," said Bogujevci, who survived 16 gunshot wounds inflicted by the Serbian army 25 years ago.
In response to a Serbian representative, Biljanta Pantić, she said that it is unacceptable that Serbia is still carrying out attacks and that Serbia should have sought forgiveness for the crimes committed.
She also mentioned that the individuals responsible for the attack on September 24 in the north of the country, where a Kosovo Police officer, Afrim Bunjaku, was killed, are in Serbia and are not being prosecuted.
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| Saranda Bogujevci saved after the massacre of her family by Serbian soldiers and ten years later, source: BBC |
At the age of 13, Saranda Bogujevci found herself in a horrific event in Kosovo, where she was one of 19 women and children targeted by a Serbian death squad. In this tragic incident, Saranda not only lost her mother, grandmother, and two younger brothers but also witnessed the loss of seven women and seven children, all falling victim to the massacre. Saranda endured unimaginable pain, having been shot 16 times and left for dead among a heap of lifeless bodies in a garden in her hometown of Podujevo.
Years later, at the age of 18, Saranda's quest for justice led her back to Serbia. Alongside her four surviving cousins who had also experienced the same massacre, she embarked on a journey to Belgrade to provide evidence against those they believed were responsible for this heinous act in March 1999 – a specialized Serbian unit known as the Scorpions.
Reflecting on the moment she was wounded, Saranda shared, "When the bullets struck me, my entire body went numb, and I couldn't feel much of anything. I noticed punctures in my coat and a substantial wound in my hand. As I attempted to move, I heard a disturbing clicking sound around my elbow, which I believe was my bone breaking."
A local doctor transported Saranda and her cousins to a hospital in Pristina, which was under Serbian control, and cautioned them to claim they were victims of NATO bombings.
With the entry of United Nations forces into Kosovo, a British Army surgeon arranged for Saranda and her cousins to be evacuated to Manchester, where their lives would undergo a profound transformation.