Heart-wrenching firsthand accounts of systemic executions, mass deportations, and brutal detention camp conditions during the 1998–1999 Kosovo War took center stage at the Basic Court of Prishtina yesterday.
The testimonies were delivered during the trial of Momir Pantić and Žarko Zarić, two former Serbian security officials indicted by the Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo (PSRK) for crimes against humanity and war crimes against the civilian population in the Istog region.
[WAR CRIMES TRIAL PROFILE: PANTIĆ & ZARIĆ]
• Venue: Basic Court of Prishtina
• Defendants: Momir Pantić (Former Istog Police Chief) & Žarko Zarić (Former Officer)
• Indictment Date: September 1 September 2024 (By PSRK)
• Central Charges: War crimes against civilians, mass murder, torture, and sexual violence.
• Witnesses Heard: Hyla Salihaj (Istog massacre survivor), Fadil Mavraj (Saradran survivor)
Witness Recalls Execution of Nine Family Members
During the morning session, witness Hyla Salihaj provided a devastating timeline of the morning Serbian police forces surrounded her family estate, set her home ablaze, and herded the remaining occupants into the courtyard.
“They forced us out. When we reached the yard, three women and 14 children huddled together. Right as we stepped outside, they shot my brother-in-law’s 16-year-old son dead right in front of my eyes,” Salihaj testified.
According to Salihaj, the police systematically executed nine male members of her immediate family during the raid, including eight of her sons and one nephew. She later observed their bodies when distant relatives gathered them for a hurried burial, describing the remains as heavily mutilated. Salihaj identified the defendant, Momir Pantić, as the serving Chief of Police in Istog during the period of the massacre.
The Saradran Exodus and the Basements of Gurakoc
The afternoon session turned to the testimony of Fadil Mavraj, who detailed the coordinated ethnic cleansing of the village of Saradran on May 8, 1999. Mavraj stated that approximately 20,000 displaced civilians—including families fleeing earlier purges in Peja and Klina—had sought refuge in the village before Serbian forces issued a forced evacuation order.
The multi-mile convoy of tractors and civilians was intercepted in the village of Zallç by masked Serbian paramilitaries wearing distinctive red armbands.
[THE DEPORTATION AND INTERROGATION PIPELINE]
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Forced Evacuation of 20,000 Civilians from Saradran Village
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Convoy Intercepted at Zallç by Masked Paramilitaries
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Young Men Stripped of IDs, Gold, Cash, and Packed into Cargo Trucks
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Systemic Torture in the Lime-Dust Basements of Gurakoc Prison
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Forced Transfer to High-Security Detention Facilities in Serbia proper
“They crammed 100 of us into a single commercial truck… a human being wouldn’t even force animals into a space like that,” Mavraj testified, recalling the transport to the notorious Gurakoc prison.
Mavraj described being held in basement cells covered in loose quicklime ($qereç$), which caused severe breathing difficulties, while guards administered daily, systematic beatings to the inmates’ heads and limbs. Three days into his detention, Mavraj was taken to an upper-level office for interrogation. There, he encountered a state prosecutor alongside Police Chief Momir Pantić, who was dressed in civilian clothes.
Mavraj testified that the prosecutor taunted him, demanding to know why he supported the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Following four days of abuse at Gurakoc, Mavraj was transferred to Peja prison for a month before being loaded onto trains and deported to high-security detention camps inside Serbia proper, including facilities in Leskovac and Zaječar.
Inside the Special Prosecution’s Indictment
The formal PSRK indictment against Pantić and Zarić outlines a vast network of coordinated atrocities stretching across the municipality of Istog, including a central role in the Dubrava Prison Massacre:
| Crime Category | Specific Allegations & Indictment Details |
| The Dubrava Prison Massacre | Following NATO air strikes on May 19 and 21, 1999, Pantić and under-command guards allegedly entered the cell blocks, systematically beating Albanian inmates before gathering survivors on a sports field and targeting them with automatic weapons and grenades. |
| Systemic Sexual Violence | The indictment directly implicates forces under Pantić’s command in the kidnapping and severe sexual assault of at least two Albanian civilians, identified under the protected judicial pseudonyms “A1” and “B1”. |
| indiscriminate Executions | Coordinated operations with paramilitary units that resulted in the targeted liquidation of entire families across rural villages in Istog. |
The trial is slated to continue next week with further witness testimonies and forensic evidence admissions.
