Gnjilane killings

Last updated
Gnjilane killings
Location Gjilan, Kosovo
DateJune–October 1999 (Central European Time)
Target Kosovo Serbs
Attack type
Abduction, Torture, Mass killing
Deaths51
Perpetrators KLA Gjilan Group

The Gnjilane killings was the abduction, torture and mass murder of Kosovo Serb civilians in the town of Gjilan by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army's (KLA) Gnjilane group from June to October 1999, in the aftermath of the Kosovo War.

Contents

Case

Following the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo on 10 June 1999, the "Gjilan group" gathered into the city of Gjilan where according to trial testimony, they were ordered to "cleanse" the remaining Serbs living in the town. [1] The group is believed to have kidnapped 159 Serb civilians and killed at least 51 people between June and October 1999. [2] The group consisted of ethnic Albanians from Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa, and Albanians of western Republic of Macedonia.

On 26 December 2008, Serbian authorities arrested 10 ex-KLA members from Gjilan group suspected of torturing, looting and raping Serb and non-Serb civilians. [3]

According to the indictment, Serbs were imprisoned in the basement of a local boarding school, where they were tortured, mutilated, and killed. [4] Victims had their nails pulled out, tongues stabbed with knives, lighters hammered into skulls, and were in the end choked with plastic bags and garroted with wires. [4] To conceal their crimes, the killers dismembered the bodies and threw them into nearby dumpsters, and in Lake Livočko. [4] The defendants were also suspected of having raped women and sexually abusing prisoners. The indictment was based on victims' testimonies, supported by medical experts, as well as information provided by an ex-KLA member. [1]

Trials

On 21 January 2011, the Belgrade Higher Court sentenced nine former KLA members to a total of 101 years for torturing, raping and murdering Serb and other civilians in the eastern Kosovo town of Gnjilane. [4] The perpetrators were Ahmet Hasani, Nazif Hasani, Ferat Hajdarij, Kamber Sahiti, Burim Fazli, Faton Hajdari, Samet Hajdari, Selimon Sadiku and Agus Memisi. [4]

The War Crime Chamber of the Appellate Court in Belgrade quashed the verdict on 7 December 2011 and set the case for a retrial. [5] On 19 September 2012, the group, which by then totaled 11 individuals, was sentenced to a combined 116 years in prison. [5] Meanwhile, Fazli Ajdari, Rexhep Aliu, Shaqir Shaqiri, Idriz Aliu and Ramadan Halimi, who were previously on the run, were cleared of all charges and the international warrant for their arrest was revoked. [5] Shemsi Nuhui, who was extradited to Serbia in May 2012, was also released. [5] The presiding judge noted however, that while the court accepted the testimonies of the protected witnesses as authentic, it acknowledged discrepancies in their accounts. Furthermore, while the witnesses described the events in Gjilan, they were not specific to the events outlined in the indictment, and they did not name the specific defendants as the perpetrators. The testimony of a key witness was also dismissed and the prosecution was accused of misusing the victims' suffering. [5]

On 11-12 May 2013, Albanians as well Albanian political parties from the Southern Serbian region of Preševo held a protest in the Preševo city square, demanding the release of the group. [6] [1] In November 2013, the Serbian Appeals Court and Higher Court acquitted the eleven individuals who were previously found guilty and released them. [1] The decision was criticized by Serbia's Office of War crimes prosecution. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosovo Liberation Army</span> Ethnic-Albanian nationalist paramilitary organization (1992–1999)

The Kosovo Liberation Army was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia during the 1990s. Albanian nationalism was a central tenet of the KLA and many in its ranks supported the creation of a Greater Albania, which would encompass all Albanians in the Balkans, stressing Albanian culture, ethnicity and nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac</span> Albanian militant group (1999–2001)

The Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac was an Albanian militant insurgent group fighting for separation from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for three municipalities: Preševo, Medveđa, and Bujanovac, home to most of the Albanians in south Serbia, adjacent to Kosovo. Of the three municipalities, two have an ethnic Albanian majority, whilst Medveđa has a significant minority of them.

The Račak massacre or Račak operation was the massacre of 45 Kosovo Albanians that took place in the village of Račak in central Kosovo in January 1999. The massacre was perpetrated by Serbian security forces in response to Albanian separatist activity in the region. The Serbian government refused to let a war crimes prosecutor visit the site, and maintained that the casualties were all members of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) killed in combat with state security forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gjilan</span> City in Kosovo

Gjilan or Gnjilane is the fourth most populous city in Kosovo and it serves as both a municipality and the administrative center of the Gjilan District. According to the 2024 census, the municipality of Gjilan has a population of 82,901 with the majority residing in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viti, Kosovo</span> Town and municipality in Gjilan, Kosovo

Viti or Vitina is a town and municipality located in the District of Gjilan in Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Viti has 4,924 inhabitants, while the municipality has 46,987 inhabitants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agim Çeku</span> Kosovar military commander and politician; Prime Minister of Kosovo from 2006 to 2008

Agim Çeku, also known by the Croatians as the nickname Commander Scorched Earth, is a Kosovo Albanian politician, the former minister of Security Forces in Kosovo and formerly the prime minister. Of military background, he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that fought against Serbian rule in 1998–1999, earlier being a commander in the Croatian War of Independence in the Croatian Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramush Haradinaj</span> Kosovar soldier and Prime Minister of Kosovo

Ramush Haradinaj is a Kosovo Albanian politician, leader of the AAK party, and the third prime minister of Kosovo. He is a former officer and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and previously served as Prime Minister of Kosovo between 2004 and 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">District of Gjilan</span> District of Kosovo

The District of Gjilan is one of the seven districts of Kosovo. Its seat is in the city of Gjilan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fatmir Limaj</span> Kosovar politician

Fatmir Limaj, is a Kosovo-Albanian politician. He is the leader of Nisma Socialdemokrate. Limaj served as Minister of Transport and Telecommunication in the government of the Republic of Kosovo. He was known as "Çeliku" during the Yugoslav wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agim Ramadani</span> Kosovar military commander (1963–1999)

Agim Ramadani also known with nickname "KATANA", was an Albanian commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian paramilitary organization that sought the independence of Kosovo from Serbia. He was killed in action during the Battle of Košare. After the war, he was declared Hero of Kosovo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War crimes in the Kosovo War</span> War crimes committed during the Kosovo War

Numerous war crimes were committed by all sides during the Kosovo War, which lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. According to Human Rights Watch, the vast majority of abuses were attributable to the government of Slobodan Milošević, mainly perpetrated by the Serbian police, the Yugoslav army, and Serb paramilitary units. During the war, regime forces killed between 7,000–9,000 Kosovar Albanians, engaged in countless acts of rape, destroyed entire villages, and displaced nearly one million people. The Kosovo Liberation Army has also been implicated in atrocities, such as kidnappings and summary executions of civilians. Moreover, the NATO bombing campaign has been harshly criticized by human rights organizations and the Serbian government for causing roughly 500 civilian casualties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Radonjić massacre</span> Massacre of Kosovo Serbs at Lake Radonjic

The Lake Radonjić massacre or the Massacre at Lake Radonjić refers to the mass murder of at least 34 Kosovo Serb, Kosovo Albanian and Roma civilians near Lake Radonjić, by KLA at the village of Glodjane, in Kosovo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 9 September 1998. The massacre took place during the Kosovo War. Batajnica mass graves

The Klečka killings were the mass murder of 22 Kosovo Serb civilians, including children, allegedly by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) over a period of several days in July 1998, during the Kosovo War. After the killings, it was alleged that members of the KLA attempted to dispose of the massacre-victims by incinerating their remains in a lime kiln. The Yugoslav Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the killings as a "Nazi-style crime."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 unrest in Kosovo</span>

The 2000 unrest in Kosovo was the result of the United Nations Interim Administration adopting Resolution 1244 on 10 June 1999. The unrest was fought between the Kosovo Force (KFOR), Kosovar Albanians, and Kosovar Serbs. It lasted somewhere from February 16, 2000 – June 6, 2000. An unknown number of Kosovar Albanians and Kosovar Serbs died along with an unknown number injured, while 1 Russian KFOR soldier died from shot wounds and UNMIK vehicles were burned during the unrest.

Limon (Aslan) Staneci (1916–1991) was a Journalist, Anti-communist and Balli Kombëtar member, born in Stanevce, Preševo in the Karadak Mountains of Yugoslavia.

This article includes information on actions described as terrorist acts in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro (2003–2006) and Serbia.

The attack on Orahovac was a 3-day long clash Between 17 and 20 July 1998 and was fought between the forces of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the FR Yugoslavia. The KLA surrounded Serb villages intending to assert authority for the Kosovo Albanian provisional government through taking over a town and creating a corridor between KLA hotbed in Drenica and the Albanian border region. 8 KLA fighters and two Yugoslav police officers were killed, as well as five Serb civilians during the attack, while 85 Serb civilians were abducted by the KLA, 40 of whom are presumed to have been murdered. During the takeover of the town by Serbian special police, 79 Albanians civilians were executed.

The Ugljare mass grave is a burial site in the village of Ugljare in the Kosovo municipality of Gjilan. Those buried include Kosovo Serbs and possibly Kosovo Albanians sometime around July 1999. At the time, it was the only case which involved in the Kosovo war crimes tribunal the investigation of a crime against civilians which was possibly committed by Albanians against Serbs. No perpetrators have been found. Kosovo leaders during the war, including former Prime Minister and the "George Washington of Kosovo", Hashim Thaci, are currently on trial for crimes against humanity, murder, forced deportation, kidnapping, and persecution of Serbs and other minorities in a specially commissioned court, The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, established to prosecute Albanian leaders for crimes during and after the Kosovo War.

Rustem Mustafa, also known Remi, was the former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army's (KLA) Llap Operational Zone. Born in Kosovo, Mustafa played a significant role in the armed conflict between Serbian forces and the KLA during the late 1990s.

The Zllash torture incident occurred during the Kosovo War, involving the torture of six individuals suspected of collaboration, ultimately resulting in the murder of one victim. The incident was carried out by the Kosovo Liberation Army (UÇK), specifically the Guerria-BIA unit under the leadership of Salih Mustafa.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Procès mené par la justice serbe contre le « groupe de Gjilan » de l'UÇK" (PDF). refwoorld.org (in French). 1 July 2016. pp. 3–6.
  2. ↑ "Serbia arrests 10 on charges of 1999 killings". The New York Times. 26 November 2008.
  3. ↑ Lazic, Nikola (26 December 2008). "Serbia Arrests ex-KLA fighters, Presevo 'Calm'". BalkanInsight. BIRN.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Ex-KLAs sent to prison for 101 years". B92.net. 21 January 2011.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Ristic, Marija (19 September 2012). "Gnjilane Group Gets 116 Years for Crimes in Kosovo". BalkanInsight. BIRN.
  6. ↑ "Kërkojn liri për antarët "grupi i gjilanit"". kt.gov.rs. 13 May 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.