1991 Photo Contest, World Press Photo of the Year
Photographer

Georges Mérillon

Gamma

28 January, 1990

Nogovac, Kosovo, Yugoslavia Family and neighbors mourn the death of Nasimi Elshani, who was killed during a protest against the Yugoslavian government's decision to abolish the autonomy of Kosovo. His mother Sabrié and sister Aferdita are sitting on the right, and his sister Ryvije in the middle. Since 1974, Kosovo had been an autonomous province within Serbia and Yugoslavia. In 1989, Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader, reduced Kosovo’s autonomous status and started a policy of cultural oppression of the ethnic Albanian population. At the end of January 1990, unarmed ethnic Albanians in Kosovo clashed with Serbian armed troops. Serb police reinforcements were sent to the province to aid federal troops already stationed in Kosovo. The episode would form an overture to the Kosovo War of 1998-1999.

About the photographer

Georges Mérillon

French photographer Georges Mérillon (France, 1957) started his photographic career in 1980 as a freelance photographer for Géo magazine and Figaro magazine. In 1981, he was one ...

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