In a few days, it will be 26 years since the massacre of approximately 370 Albanian civilians in the Meja massacre in Gjakova. Although the indictment for this massacre was raised in 2023, it still hasn’t fully passed through the court filters. The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo (SPRK) is waiting for an invitation from the court after changes were made to the indictment.
It has been 1 year and 4 months since the indictment was raised against 53 individuals for the Meja massacre, in which about 370 Albanian civilians were killed in April 1999.
The Special Prosecution of Kosovo announced in December 2023 that it had filed the indictment, although none of the accused individuals have been reachable by justice authorities.
However, no initial hearing has been held yet. In late last year, the Special Prosecution of Kosovo submitted an amended indictment, as required by the court.
“On December 23, 2024, an amended indictment was presented for trial in absentia before the Basic Court in Pristina – Special Department, against 53 defendants for the crime: ‘War crimes against the civilian population’ under Article 142 related to Article 22 of the Penal Code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, currently incriminated as ‘Crimes against humanity’ under Article 143, paragraphs 1 points 1.1, 1.2, 14, 1.6, 1.8, 1.9 under paragraphs 1.4, 1.6, and 1.7; related to Article 31 of the Penal Code of Kosovo. Upon receiving the amended indictment, the court will verify whether it was drafted in accordance with Article 235, paragraph 4 of the Criminal Procedure Code and, after evaluation, will undertake procedural actions based on Article 303, paragraph 8 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Kosovo,” stated the court.
However, the court in Pristina has not indicated whether any actions have been taken so far, and the prosecutor of the case, who is also the head of the war crimes department, Ilir Morina, has stated that they are awaiting an invitation from the court.
Lawyer Arianit Koci says judges should give priority to such cases.
“The court should prioritize some cases, above all I expect that both the judges and society support them so that more judges can be assigned to these cases and they are resolved. You know that there is an indictment for the Meja massacre, which was filed over a year ago, and still no trial session has been scheduled. It has been sent back for revision, but in any case, these cases should be acted upon as soon as possible, especially in cases of war crimes, as witnesses are dying.”
However, the former secretary at the Ministry of Justice, who was part of the institution when the legislation for trials in absentia was drafted, says that setting a date for the initial hearing in such cases takes more time.
Ardian Bajraktari – Former Secretary at the Ministry of Justice stated that “The state prosecutor should have made reasonable efforts to secure the defendant for the procedure and should convince the court that despite these efforts, it was impossible to secure the defendant’s presence, thus requesting the court to proceed with the trial in absentia. These efforts can sometimes take time until the beginning of the judicial review.”
The competencies for investigating war crimes initially were with UNMIK, then with the EULEX mission, and since 2018, the investigations are carried out by the Special Prosecution of Kosovo.
