4 April 2019 Dr Darko Laketic, Chairman of the Commission to Investigate the Consequences of the 1999 NATO Bombing on the Health of the Citizens of Serbia, as well as the Environment, with a Special Focus on the Impact of the Depleted Uranium Projectiles
The Chairman of the Commission to Investigate the Consequences of the 1999 NATO Bombing of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Dr Darko Laketic took part in the conference entitled “Uranium: one year after probe IV” in Rome, organized by the Military Observatory scientific research centre.
Italian Minister of Health Giulia Grillo spoke at the conference, as did the chair of IV defence commission Gianluca Rizzo, former chair of the IV Committee of inquiry on the effects of the use of depleted uranium Gian Piero Scanu, Minister of Defence envoy Veronica Fortezzi, experts, the media, NGO representatives and the families of Italian soldiers who had succumbed to the effects of depleted uranium.
Dr Laketic thanked the Italian partners for the cooperation and highlighted the importance of the results yielded by the probe saying that the Report on the effects of the use of depleted uranium on health that the Italian Board of Inquiry had forwarded to the Serbian Assembly has a much wider European and global importance.
Dr Laketic presented the work of the National Assembly’s Commission to Investigate the Consequences of the 1999 NATO Bombing which has at this stage began to reveal a correlation between the incidence of certain diseases and the effects of the NATO bombing.
“It is our duty to get to the truth, to find out what is behind the rising numbers of serious diseases among the populace and if possible to remove the culprits from our environment and begin early treatment where needed”, said Dr Laketic.
In the course of the conference Laketic met with Italian Minister of Health Giulia Grillo, noting that Serbia and Italy share a common cause - to uncover the truth about the effects of depleted uranium and other toxins on human health and the environment. Addressing the conference, Minister Grillo thanked Dr Laketic for coming to take part in it.
Dr Laketic also talked with the chair of IV defence commission Gianluca Rizzo and reaffirmed the readiness to continue the cooperation between the two national parliaments on uncovering the truth about the effects of depleted uranium and other toxins. Mr. Rizzo accepted Dr Laketic’s invitation to come and visit Serbia as head of a delegation of the defence committee, and the officials agreed that the two commissions’ efforts could provide a good basis for joint actions toward the European Union.
Former MP and former chair of the IV Committee of inquiry on the effects of the use of depleted uranium Gian Piero Scanu who also took part in the conference said he was pleased the results of the Italian Committee of inquiry were shared with the Serbian colleagues and hopefully contributed to the work of the Serbian Assembly’s Commission.
Scanu emphasized the importance of future cooperation between Italy and Serbia on investigating the effects of depleted uranium and, along with retired officer and publicist of the Military Observatory Domenico Leggiero, personally apologized to the Republic of Serbia and its citizens for Italy’s participation in the NATO bombing.
