Proceedings have begun at the Basic Court in Prishtina against 53 people accused of involvement in the Meja Massacre and other crimes committed in villages across the Gjakova region during the 1999 Kosovo war.
None of the 53 defendants is present in court. The proceedings are being conducted in absentia, with the accused represented by their defense lawyers. The hearing follows an earlier session on September 15 that was postponed because several defense lawyers were absent.
The Basic Court in Prishtina held the first initial hearing in the case on June 16, 2025. At that hearing, Judge Violeta Namani-Hajra said the court did not have information about the whereabouts of the defendants, while prosecutor Ilir Morina said international arrest warrants had been issued for them. The court subsequently ruled that the case could proceed in absentia.
The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo filed the indictment in December 2023, and it was amended in December 2024. The case concerns alleged crimes committed between April 27 and 29, 1999, during an operation involving Yugoslav Army and Serbian Interior Ministry forces, according to the indictment.
Alleged killings and forced displacement
According to the indictment, 270 civilians were killed in Meja, while 13 people remain listed as missing. Civilian deaths and disappearances were also reported in Korenicë, Pacaj, Dobrosh, Rracaj, Nec, Ramoc and Bishtazhin.
The indictment alleges that thousands of civilians were forcibly expelled from their homes and that property was looted and destroyed. It further alleges that columns of displaced civilians were stopped at checkpoints in Meja, Korenicë and Orizë, where Serbian forces allegedly separated men from the columns and killed them.
Other civilians were allegedly stripped of identification documents, money and valuables before being forced to continue toward Albania.
The prosecution has brought charges relating to killings, the expulsion of civilians, looting and destruction of property, with the alleged conduct classified under criminal provisions applicable at the time in the former Yugoslavia. The indictment also alleges torture, inhumane treatment and intimidation of civilians.
53 defendants
Among the defendants is Momir Stojanović, identified in the indictment as the former head of the Security Department of the Prishtina Corps Command and a former director of Serbia’s Military Security Agency.
Other defendants named in the case include Franko Simatović, identified as commander of the Special Operations Unit (JSO); Sreten Čamović, a former security official; Veroljub Živković, identified as a former chief of staff of the Prishtina Corps; Ilija Todorov, identified as commander of the 63rd Parachute Brigade; and Dragan Živanović, identified as a former commander of the 52nd Artillery-Rocket Brigade.
According to the prosecution, the defendants allegedly had different roles in organizing and coordinating forces under their respective commands during the operation.
The Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo has documented the case as proceedings against 53 defendants in absentia and reported that the prosecution’s case concerns the killing of civilians during the April 1999 operation in the Meja and Reka e Keqe areas.
The defendants remain at large, and the proceedings have therefore been conducted without their physical presence in court.
