Profesor i prevodilac Šaban Hoti 15. na listi ubijenih i kidnapovanih novinara i medijskih radnika na Kosovu

Po dolasku u Prištinu, 20. jula 1998. godine, ekipa Ruske državne televizije zamolila je Hotija, profesora na katedri za ruski jezik i književnost Prištinskog univerziteta, koji je osim maternjeg veoma dobro govorio i engleski jezik, za pomoć.

Hoti, rođen 1945. u Ratkovcu, kao prevodilac je 21. jula 1998. godine krenuo sa novinarom Olegom Safiulinom, kamermanom Aleksandrom Galanovim i tonskim tehničarem Viktorom Mamaevim, na novinarski zadatak.

Na putu Priština – Peć, u selu Lapušnik, pripadnici OVK prvo su zaustavili njihovo vozilo i rekli im da ne mogu da snimaju, a nemalo potom ih zarobili, oduzeli opremu, dokumenta i novac.

Dva sata kasnije, Hotija su odvojili i drugim vozilom odvezli do podnožja obližnjeg brda. Novinari su ga sledeći put videli u kući u Lapušniku, pretučenog, krvave košulje i jako uplašenog.

– Kada  su  mi  skinuli  povez  sa  očiju  video  sam Šabana Hotija jer je on prevodio taj razgovor. Bilo je jasno da su ga tukli. Imao je hematom na licu, krv po pantalonama, na košulji i na cipelama i bio je veoma uplašen. Jednostavno je drhtao od straha. Imao je izgubljen pogled… – ispričao je novinar Oleg Safiulin, svedočeći pred Trubunalom u Hagu.

Tog 21. jula 1998. godine, oko 19:30 ruski novinari su pušteni, ali ne i Šaban Hoti. Uoči ulaska srpskih snaga u Lapušnik, pet dana kasnije, Hoti je streljan na planini Beriša. Na toj lokaciji, aprila 2001. godine, eshumirani su njegovi posmrtni ostaci iz masovne grobnice.

Zbog ubistva Šabana Hotija i još osmorice civila, na 13 godina zatvora, pred Međunarodnim krivičnim sudom za bivšu Jugoslaviju (MKSJ), osuđen je Hajrednin Baljaj, ratnog nadimka “Šalja”, identifikovan kao logorski stražar u Lapušniku. Proglašen je krivim za okrutno postupanje, mučenje i ubistvo devet zatvorenika na planini Beriša.

To je prva presuda koju je za ratne zločine na Kosovu izrekao Tribunal, 30. novembra 2005. godine. Optužnicom su bili obuhvaćeni i bivši regionalni zapovednik OVK Fatmir Ljimaj i njemu podređeni Isak Musliju, ali su oni oslobođeni, jer “Tužilaštvo nije dokazalo da su imali komandnu ili bilo kakvu drugu ulogu u logoru OVK u Lapušniku i zločinima koji su u njemu počinjeni u leto 1998. godine”.

Hajredin Baljaj preminuo je 31. januara 2018. godine. Tog dana, sednica Skupština Kosova je počela minutom ćutanja u kome su učestvovali i predstavnici Srpske liste. Tim povodom su izjavili da su “žrtve neviđene političke podvale” i “isključenog prevoda”.

O ovim zločinima, pred Tribunalom u Hagu svedočio je i zaštićeni svedok, koji je takođe bio zarobljen u Lapušniku. On je govorio i o surovom prebijanju profesora Šabana Hotija, a na jedno od pitanja tužioca je odgovorio: „U prvoj prostoriji, u onoj u kojoj smo bili prvi put, Šalja je rekao: ‘Pogledajte šta će se dogoditi onom ko ide da prevodi za Ruse’“.

Ime profesora Šabana Hotija nalazi se u Kosovskoj knjizi pamćenja Fonda za humanitarno pravo u kojoj je naveden kao profesor, prevodilac i novinar.

Više o ovoj temi na sajtu UNS-a, u narednim danima.

Professor and translator Shaban Hoti is 15^th on the list of killed and kidnapped journalists and media workers in Kosovo

Shaban Hoti, professor of Russian language, translator and media worker, was captured and then killed, as part of the Russian State Television team, which in July of 1998 tried to interview KLA members in the village of Lapusnik.

He is the 15th person on the list of killed and kidnapped journalists and media workers in Kosovo, in a UNS survey.

Upon the arrival in Pristina, on July 20, 1998, the Russian State Television team asked Hoti, a professor at the Department of Russian Language and Literature at the Pristina University, who, in addition to his mother language, spoke English well, for help.

Hoti, born in 1945 in Ratkovac, and on on July 21, 1998, as an interpreter he went with journalist Oleg Safiulin, cameraman Alexander Galanov and sound technician Viktar Mamaev, on a journalistic assignment.

On the Pristina-Peja road, in the village of Lapusnik, members of the KLA first stopped their vehicle and told them that they could not record, and then captured them, took away the equipment, documents and money.

Two hours later, Hoti was separated from the group and he was driven by another vehicle to the foot of a nearby hill. The next time the reporters saw him in a house in Lapusnik. He was beaten, his shirt was bloody and he was very frightened.

– When I was stripped off the blindfold, I saw Shaban Hoti because he was translating this conversation. It was clear that they were beaten him. He had a hematoma on his face, blood on his pants, on a shirt and on his shoes, and he was very scared. He simply shivered with fear. He seemed lost – said journalist Oleg Safiulin, testifying before the Trubunal in The Hague.

On July 21, 1998, at around 19:30, Russian journalists were released, but not Shaban Hoti. On the eve of the entry of Serb forces into Lapusnik, five days later, Hoti was shot at Berisha Mountain. At that location, in April 2001, his remains were exhumed from a mass grave.

For the murder of Shaban Hoti and another eight civilians, Hajrednin Balaj, the war nickname „Shala“, was identified as a guard in the camp in Lapusnik, and sentenced on 13 years in prison, before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He was found guilty of cruel treatment, torture and murder of nine prisoners on the Berisha Mountain.

This was the first verdict handed down by the Tribunal for war crimes in Kosovo on November 30, 2005. The indictment also included former KLA regional commander Fatmir Limaj and his subordinate Isak Musliu, but they were acquitted because „the Prosecution did not prove that they had command or any other role in the KLA camp in Lapusnik and the crimes committed therein in the summer 1998 „.

Hajredin Baljaj died on January 31, 2018. On that day, the Kosovo Assembly began with a minute of silence in which representatives of the Serbian List participated. On this occasion, they stated they were „victims of unprecedented political fraud” and „translation being turned off”.

A protected witness also testified about these crimes before the Hague Tribunal, who was also captured in Lapusnik. He also talked about the brutal beatings of Professor Shaban Hoti, and on the one of the prosecutor’s questions, he answered: „In the first room, in the one in which we were the first time, Shala said: “Look what’s going to happen to who’s going to translate for the Russians”.

The name of Professor Saban Hoti is in the Kosovo Memory Book of the Belgrade based Humanitarian Law Centar. Mr. Hoti is listed as a professor, translator and journalist.

More on this topic on the UNS website in the coming days.