Radio Kosovo refuses to air play about Serb missing persons

NEWS 13.01.202118:11
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Kosovo public broadcaster Radio Kosovo refused to air part of an audio drama about the families of missing Serbs, the KoSSev portal reported on Wednesday citing the Integra NGO.

Integra said that Radio Kosovo refused to air a rerun and two new episodes of the drama Living With Memory of the Missing claiming that it was offensive. The NGO explained in a statement that the station agreed to air the 10 episodes of the play about a Serb woman from the town of Strpce whose husband went missing during the war. “Once they understood that the episode is only about a Serb family, Radio Kosovo decided not to air the episode scheduled for December 22,” it said, adding that station managers informed Integra staff “angrily and anxiously” that they do not agree to air content based on the story of non-Albanian victims. Integra said that three of the 10 episodes were based on Serb family stories.

The radio station’s editor Mirvete Uka told Pristina daily Koha that the language used in the radio play was not appropriate to the sensitive time that Kosovo is going through. “That language offends most people. We have thousands of Albanian victims and we can’t allow the use of this kind of speech and lynch,” she said, adding that she can’t allow this kind of preaching.

Integra called for immediate reactions to what it said is censorship by Radio Kosovo from all public institutions, politicians, media and human rights activists

A total of 6,063 people were reported missing in the Kosovo war. The number of people of all ages and genders still listed as missing is 1,638 at present.