The “Genocide in Kosovo – Open Wound” center is appealing that the genocidal acts committed by the Serbian forces in Kosovo should not be simply qualified as war crimes.
During the appeal, two sentences pronounced by the Basic Court in Pristina were mentioned, where it is said that with them the Basic Courts of Kosovo exonerate Serbia for the crime of genocide committed during the 1998-1999 war.
“On July 12, 2024, the Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Muharrem Alidemaj to 15 years in prison for participating in war crimes during the year 1999 for the murder of over one hundred Albanians, in the village of Izbicë in the municipality of Skenderaj”.
“On July 17, 2024, the Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Ekrem Bajrović to 12 years in prison for participating in the war crimes of killing 16 Albanians and ill-treating 84 other Albanians in the municipality of Istog”.
The Center said that such legal qualification of the offense is in complete contradiction with the nature of the material facts and represents a serious violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Kosovo.
“The ‘Genocide in Kosovo-Open Wound’ center has warned about the danger that these decisions will be used by the deniers of the genocide in Kosovo as an argument of the jurisprudence of the local courts, that allegedly no genocide took place in Kosovo, but only crimes of the highest degree. low: war crimes, and in this way to close the way to the possibility of suing Serbia for the crime of genocide that it has committed against the Albanians of Kosovo. Therefore, we consider it necessary to jointly oppose the acquittal of Serbia for the crime of genocide”.
