Indictment against a suspect for involvement in the killing of 13 civilians during the war in Kosovo

2025-12-30 14:18:50, Kosova & Bota CNA

Indictment against a suspect for involvement in the killing of 13 civilians

The Kosovo Special Prosecution Office on Tuesday filed an indictment in absentia against a man suspected of war crimes against the Albanian civilian population during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo.

The suspect, identified only by the initials SA, is accused of participating in the killing of 13 civilians and the wounding of four others on April 30, 1999 in the village of Llashticë, Gjilan.

According to the indictment, he is suspected of having committed the crime in collaboration with other members of the Serbian police, paramilitary and military forces.

"There is a well-founded suspicion that the defendant executed the victim HH by shooting him in the head, and then ordered another person to fire at other civilians, executing them one by one," the indictment states.

Prosecutors have asked the Basic Court in Pristina to allow the trial to be held in absentia, given that the suspect is inaccessible to Kosovo authorities.

In recent years, Kosovo has increased the number of indictments in absentia for war crimes committed during the last war.

In July, the Prosecution filed an indictment in absentia against 21 suspects for the forcible expulsion of over 800,000 Albanian civilians from Kosovo during the war.

Trial in absentia is possible in Kosovo following changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, made in 2022.

However, such trials can only take place on the condition that the prosecution and the court have exhausted all means to ensure the presence of the accused.

However, this Code stipulates that persons tried in absentia have the right to an unconditional retrial when arrested.

According to the Humanitarian Law Center in Kosovo, since the law on trials in absentia came into force, dozens of indictments have been filed in absentia against dozens of members of Serbian forces suspected of committing war crimes in Kosovo.

Meanwhile, the first verdict in absentia was pronounced in December 2024 in the case of Çedomir Aksiq, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for war crimes against the civilian population.

During the war in Kosovo, from 1998 to 1999, over 13,000 civilians were killed, while thousands more disappeared.

Over 1,500 people are still missing – most of them Albanians.

Hundreds of murdered Kosovo Albanians have been found in mass graves in Serbia. Their bodies were moved by Serbian forces in an attempt to cover up the crimes.

Serbia's political and military leaders have been arrested, tried and convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague for crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

Among them was Slobodan Milosevic, who died in prison without being convicted for his responsibility in ordering war crimes in Kosovo./REL