During the year 2023, the Special Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kosovo filed fifteen indictments for war crimes against the civilian population, according to the report “The beginning of a new phase in the trial of war crimes”, drawn up by the Humanitarian Law Fund. Of them, eight were filed in absentia against 61 members of the Serbian forces and seven indictments were filed against seven members of the Serbian forces, who were arrested by the Kosovo Police and are in custody, Amer Alija announced during the presentation of the report on the 19 April, in Pristina.
The start of trials in absentia, according to him, marks a new turn in the proceedings of war crimes cases “presenting a new challenge for the judicial system in Kosovo”. “This phase will be an important test for the ability and independence of the Kosovar judiciary to provide justice in such sensitive cases”, said Alija. The first trial in absentia for war crimes started in November last year, in the Special Department of the Basic Court in Pristina.
According to the report of the Fund for Humanitarian Law in Kosovo, during 2023, nine people were arrested on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against the civilian population. The measure of detention has been set for them.
In the 1998-1999 war, more than 13,000 civilians are believed to have been killed in Kosovo, while thousands more have disappeared. To this day, more than 1,600 people remain missing – most of them Albanians. “Since the end of the war in Kosovo, judicial institutions, whether local or international, have convicted only 74 people for war crimes in Kosovo, on the other hand, more than 10,000 civilian victims have been killed,” Alija said.
The Deputy Minister of Justice of Kosovo, Vigan Qorrolli, said that they are committed to addressing violations of human rights, war crimes and crimes against humanity “by developing the legal basis, which had been missing for many years and increasing the capacities of the institutions for addressing these issues”. “Delivering justice is not revenge, it is a guarantee that contributes to building peace and stability in the Balkans”, said Qorrolli at the round table organized by the Fund for Humanitarian Law in Kosovo.
He said that through the trial in absentia “the perpetrators of war crimes will not have the opportunity to avoid justice, despite the fact that they are not present”. “Kosovo must advance in strengthening justice and engage in the punishment of all those war criminals who, unfortunately, most of them still move freely in Serbia and beyond,” said Qorrolli. In this report, the Humanitarian Law Fund reiterated the recommendation to establish legal cooperation with Serbia.
“The Government of Kosovo must commit to establishing international legal cooperation in the negotiations with Serbia through the signing of cooperation protocols between the special prosecutor’s offices of Kosovo and Serbia”, the report states. According to the FDH, the lack of cooperation and exchange of information between the investigative bodies of Kosovo and those of Serbia affects the inefficiency of indictments for war crimes. Also, among the recommendations was that the investigating policemen of the War Crimes Investigation Directorate should be provided with continuous training in the field of war crimes investigation.
The Prosecution Council of Kosovo should select four more prosecutors within the War Crimes Department of the PSRK, for which the budget has been allocated by the Government of Kosovo since 2021,” the report states. According to the FDH, the Judicial Council of Kosovo should create an electronic database with the judicial documentation of war crimes cases, for which the final decisions have been made.
