The Kosovo Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a 12-year prison sentence for Ekrem Bajrović for war crimes against the civilian population in villages of Istog during the last war in Kosovo in 1998-99.
The appeal announced that it rejected as unfounded the appeal of Bajrović's defense attorney, confirming the verdict of the Basic Court in Pristina from last year.
The Tribunal found Bajrović guilty in July 2024 of committing war crimes against the Albanian civilian population in the villages of Staradran, Zallc, Gurrakoc and other surrounding villages of the Istog Municipality in early 1999.
During the war, he had been a Serbian police officer at the Gurrakoc police station.
The appeal said it had reviewed the appeal of Bajrović's defense and concluded that there was no essential violation of the provisions of criminal procedure in the Basic Court's judgment for the defendant.
"The disposition is clear and understandable, while the reasoning provides full and clear reasons for the decisive facts, therefore the appealed judgment does not contain any other violations that would condition its mandatory annulment, nor has the criminal law been violated to the detriment of the accused as claimed by the defense in the appeal," the Appeals Office's announcement states.
Regarding the defense's complaint that there was "incorrect and incomplete verification of the factual situation", the Appeals Chamber stated that the trial panel assessed that the factual situation was verified "in a complete and fair manner".
"All facts, important and decisive circumstances in this criminal case have been proven in accordance with the evidence administered by the first instance court during the trial, from which it has been established that the accused EB, in the manner described in the enacting clause of the appealed judgment, committed the aforementioned criminal offense for which he was found guilty," the announcement states.
The appeal described Bajrović's sentence by the first instance court as "fair and legal".
What crimes was Bajrović convicted of?
According to the verdict, on May 7 and 8, 1999, during an action by military, paramilitary and police forces against the Albanian civilian population in the villages of Istog, civilians were forced to leave their homes and ordered to head towards Albania.
The accused, according to the Court, separated the men and women from the column heading towards Albania, robbing them and then the Serbian forces took them to a house in Staradran, "shooting at least 16 civilians of Albanian nationality".
Also, according to the court, on May 7, 1999, Bajrović participated in the "arrest and mistreatment of 84 civilians of Albanian nationality, so that initially the injured [men] were separated from the other column of civilians, all their money and other valuables were taken from them, and then they were all sent to Gurrakoc to the Sh.S. bar, where they were mistreated and tortured in an inhumane manner."
While on May 8, 1999, according to the report, the detainees were taken to the police station in Gurrakoc, "where the convoy was led by the accused EB."
Bajrović will also have time spent in detention counted towards his sentence, starting from October 19, 2022.
Since the end of the last war in Kosovo, around 70 people have been convicted of war crimes before local and international institutions.
From 2000 to 2008, war crimes in Kosovo were investigated by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), and since 2008, by the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX).
In 2018, this mission submitted cases to the Kosovo Prosecutor's Office and local courts.
During the last war in Kosovo in 1998-99, more than 13,000 civilians were killed and thousands more disappeared.
Over 1,600 people are still missing – most of them Albanians./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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