Before the 1990s, Zoran Stanković was an ordinary neighbor to the residents of the village of Matiqan, in Pristina.
However, with the outbreak of the war, everything changed.
Stanković is suspected of having been involved in crimes committed in this part of Kosovo by Serbian military and police forces.
Before the war, Hysen Gashi recounts that they had good relations with Stanković.
“We were neighbors, we took care of the animals together, we spent time together. I knew his father; we got along well before, us locals here. We never had any problems, we had gardens together, we worked together. Until the war started, they were down in the village while we were up, but we never had any issues with them,” Gashi said.
Gashi recalls how Stanković began cooperating with Serbian forces.
“When the police and the army were stationed there before the bombings, they used to deliver food to them in the hills by tractor. With that Bora (tractor), I know they transported bread,” Gashi added.
It is precisely under suspicion of involvement in war crimes that Stanković was arrested on March 23 at the Kosovo–Serbia border.
“The defendant Z.S., as part of a paramilitary group of Serbian forces, is suspected of having committed war crimes against the civilian population in the village of Matiqan, Municipality of Pristina, during the period 1998–1999,” the Special Prosecution stated.
Gashi also recounts that Serbian forces burned everything in their path.
“During the bombings, someone burned our machines. As I heard, someone from Çagllavica, together with that Bora, had taken part in that burning. My damages were somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000 euros,” Gashi emphasized.
After the war ended and Albanians returned to their homes, there were no longer any traces of the Serbs who had lived there.
“After the war, they were no longer here. When we returned from Macedonia, none of them existed here anymore. They had left,” Gashi concluded.
The Basic Court of Pristina has ordered a 30-day detention measure against Stanković.
