The Special Department of the Basic Court in Prishtina is expected to hold an initial hearing today in the case against 21 defendants accused of war crimes against the civilian population, concerning the mass expulsion of Albanians from Kosovo during the 1999 war.
The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the Palace of Justice and will be presided over by Judge Medie Bytyqi. The defendants are currently beyond the reach of Kosovo authorities, and the court has called on them to surrender so that the proceedings can take place in their presence.
According to the indictment, between January and June 1999, the defendants exercised authority and effective control over Serbian military and police forces. The prosecution alleges that they were aware of attacks against Albanian-populated settlements, the burning and destruction of property, persecution, and the forced displacement of civilians.
The indictment alleges that these actions resulted in the expulsion of 862,979 Albanians from Kosovo toward Albania and what was then the Republic of Macedonia.
The defendants are charged on the basis of alleged command responsibility, with the prosecution maintaining that those in positions of authority failed to prevent or punish crimes committed by forces under their control.
The previous hearing, scheduled for September 15, was postponed after defense lawyers said they had not been provided with the complete case file and therefore had not had sufficient opportunity to prepare for the proceedings.
The case concerns some of the largest-scale displacement of Kosovo’s civilian population during the 1999 war, when hundreds of thousands of Albanians were forced from their homes amid military and police operations.
The allegations remain subject to judicial examination, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty by a final court decision.
