Today marks 27 years since the killing of 86 Albanian civilians in Kralan, Gjakova, one of the many atrocities committed during the Kosovo War.
On April 2, 1999, Serbian military and police forces separated hundreds of men and boys from a group of around 1,500 Albanians who had fled their homes to escape violence. Women, children, and the elderly were ordered to leave toward Albania.
Two days later, on April 4, after being held in a field under harsh conditions — surrounded by tanks, without food or water — many of the detained men were released. However, 86 of them, including 11 minors, were held back and later killed.
In 2013, the Humanitarian Law Center filed criminal charges against several officers of the Yugoslav Army for war crimes in Kralan.
It was later confirmed that the remains of 18 of the victims were found in a mass grave near Lake Perućac, in Bajina Bašta, Serbia.
In December 2014, Arifete Bytyqi, head of the association “Family and Hope,” sent a letter to the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, requesting an investigation into the قتل of the 86 Albanian civilians by Serbian police forces on April 4, 1999.
This anniversary stands as a painful reminder of the crimes committed during the war and the ongoing quest for justice for the victims and their families.
