Aziz Kelmendi

Who was Aziz Kelmendi?

Aziz Kelmendi was a Faculty of Law regular student at the University of Priština. An ethnic Albanian, he had been serving as a Yugoslav People's Army soldier. On September 3, 1987, Kelmendi armed himself with an automatic rifle, and in what would become known as the Paraćin massacre, he shot dead four people: two Bosniaks; Safet Dudaković and Hazim Dženanović; one Croat, Goran Begić; and one Serb, Srđan Simić. He also wounded five others. All of this happened at the military barracks "Branko Krsmanović", in the town of Paraćin, Serbia. The main witness of the massacre was Rizo Alibašić. Following this, he ran away from military casern on the Karađorđevo hill, where he was eventually surrounded. According to official reports of the Yugoslav authorities, Kelmendi then committed suicide.