Serbia: Number of indictments against Kosovo Albanians increases

Unlike previous years, the War Crimes Prosecution in Serbia has significantly increased the number of indictments during 2024.

Most of them have been directed against Kosovo Albanians and, according to the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), this is the result of political pressure from the authorities and pro-government media in Serbia.

Although Serbia continued to arrest Kosovo citizens at border crossings in 2024, most indictments were filed against persons who are inaccessible to the Serbian judicial system.

According to the Fund, instead of improving cooperation with Kosovo, trial in absentia is being put into practice.

The year 2024 was also characterized by a lack of cooperation with neighboring countries, the delay in trials for war crimes of the 1990s, disproportionate sentences for those convicted, and the failure to prosecute senior members of the Serbian forces.

Throughout the year, the public glorification of convicted war criminals continued and a state campaign to deny the Srebrenica genocide was launched.

"The conditions under which war crimes trials are conducted in Serbia are very unfavorable. Even in 2024, the atmosphere of a revisionist politics of memory continued," said Jovana Kollaric from the Humanitarian Law Center during the presentation of the report.

The War Crimes Prosecution Office did not respond to Radio Free Europe's questions regarding the new report by this non-governmental organization, which monitors all war crimes trials in Serbia.

How many indictments have been filed?

During 2024, the War Crimes Prosecution in Serbia filed eight indictments against 10 individuals.

One of them was transferred from the Bosnia and Herzegovina Prosecutor's Office, while seven were filed against Kosovo Albanians for crimes committed against the Serbian population in the late 1990s.

Six of the accused are not available to Serbian justice and will be tried in absentia.

"Without institutional exchange of evidence and information between Serbia and Kosovo, weak indictments that will be difficult to prove will continue," said Mirjana Pešić from the HLC.

She added that a similar situation is occurring in Kosovo, where the Special Prosecution Office has filed six indictments against 11 members of the Serbian forces for trials in absentia in 2024.

Serbia and Kosovo reached an agreement on mutual legal assistance in 2013, mediated by the European Union, which provides for the exchange of judicial requests between the two countries.

However, according to the Kosovo Justice Institute, Serbia has not cooperated in any case related to war crimes.

How many court decisions have been issued?

The Supreme Court in Belgrade sentenced Tefik Mustafa to one year in prison in February 2024 for "organizing and inciting the commission of genocide and war crimes."

Mustafa was arrested in June 2024 at the border crossing in Merdar, while the Prosecution accused him of having participated in June 1999, along with about ten members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), in the kidnapping of three civilians near the village of Llabjan.

"According to the verdict, the court, without sufficient evidence, accepted the indictment's claim that the specific KLA group was organized to commit criminal offenses. When announcing the verdict, the court did not justify to the public why it had completely rejected the defendant's defense," the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) said in a statement after the verdict was announced.

Mustafa's trial was concluded in an expedited manner, in just two days.

"Such a process does not help to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance of civilians nor to achieve justice, but only further undermines the victims' trust in institutions," the HLC stressed.

This was just one of a series of arrests of Kosovo Albanians in Serbia.

Hasan Dakaj, arrested in January 2024, was released after a year, after reaching an agreement with the prosecution to plead guilty to an indictment charging him with crimes against the civilian population.

Kosovo citizen Nezir Mehmetaj was sentenced to six years in prison for the same offense in December 2024. He had been arrested by Serbian authorities five years earlier and has remained in detention the entire time.

"The fact that most of the indictment was not proven, while the accused was convicted of only one count, creates the impression that the indictment was not based on solid evidence, but was driven by political demand," the HLC report states.

In addition to the decision against Mehmetaj, the High Court in Belgrade during 2024 also made public three first-instance verdicts for crimes during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as two decisions in repeated proceedings.

In April 2024, seven former members of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) were sentenced to a total of 56 years in prison for the massacre of Kosovo Albanians in the villages of Qyshk, Zahaq, Pavlan and Lubeniq in 1999.

"Although the indictment, through amendments and additions, included numerous crimes committed by the accused, the decision significantly narrowed criminal responsibility and drastically reduced the number of victims," ​​the HLC report states.

According to the same report, UPJ members were convicted only for the murder of 57 civilians in Cuska, while no one was found guilty for the murder of 42 civilians in Lubenic and 17 in Zahac – crimes also documented by the Hague Tribunal.

The HLC assesses that the sentences for most of the defendants were disproportionate and some were even lower than the minimum provided for by law.

"Much of the evidence presented during the trial revealed that responsibility for these crimes does not end with the direct perpetrators, but also includes the chain of command of the Yugoslav Army, which is not included in the indictment at all," the report states.

The trial in this case lasted 14 years. The first verdict was announced in 2014, but a year later it was overturned by the Serbian Court of Appeals.

Trials that last forever

One of the clearest examples of the protracted nature of judicial proceedings is the case of the kidnapping and murder of train passengers in the village of Štrpci in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993, where the indictment against members of the "Avengers" unit was only confirmed in 2018.

The trial began in January 2019, but the Court of Appeal overturned the first-instance verdict in November 2023 and the case was sent back for retrial.

"This is a drastic example of judicial inaction and inefficiency, which shows how much justice institutions contribute to judicial delays and the denial of justice for victims," ​​the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) report said, adding that two of the accused have since died.

Even the trial for the murder of 1,313 Bosnian civilians in Kravica near Srebrenica, which began in late 2016, is still continuing in the evidence management phase after more than eight years.

The prosecution in Serbia has filed an indictment against eight members of the Special Brigade of the Republika Srpska Police for war crimes against the civilian population, although courts in Bosnia and in The Hague have handed down sentences for genocide or crimes against humanity for the same acts.

"The prosecution, in a dishonest manner, conceals the fact that criminal prosecution for genocide is politically unacceptable in Serbia, because the highest state representatives will not recognize the decision that genocide occurred in Srebrenica," the HLC report emphasizes.

All the accused in this case are defending themselves at large. During 2024, due to their absence, 15 court hearings were not held.

"The excuse of poor health has become a tool for deliberately delaying trials and achieving the declaration of procedural incapacity of the accused," says the HLC.

The report mentions that since 2010, the HLC has filed criminal charges against several senior members of the Republika Srpska army for suspected participation in the genocide in Srebrenica, but by the end of 2024, the Serbian Prosecutor's Office had not launched any investigation.

The Bosnian court's 2014 verdict, which sentenced Novak Djukic to 20 years in prison for the murder of over 70 people in the port of Tuzla, has also not been implemented. The former general of the Republika Srpska army had fled to Belgrade before the verdict was announced and lives there at large.

Is there regional cooperation?

Despite the existence of the Protocol on Cooperation in Prosecution of War Crimes Perpetrators, the Prosecutor's Office in Serbia refuses to hand over cases to the judicial authorities in Bosnia.

One example is that of Miomir Jasikovac, former commander of the military police unit of the Zvornik Brigade of the RS army, who was indicted in Serbia for war crimes just days after the Bosnian Prosecutor's Office had indicted him for genocide in Srebrenica.

The Serbian prosecution significantly reduced the number of victims and reached a plea agreement with the accused, sentencing him to a minimum sentence of five years in prison.

So far, only one case has been submitted to Bosnian justice – that of Edin Vranj, a Bosnian citizen, who was arrested in September 2021 on the border between Serbia and Bosnia on suspicion of war crimes. He was released from detention after a month.

"Even in this case, the surrender occurred only after the political intervention of the President of Serbia," the HLC report states.

Although more than a year has passed since the Hague Tribunal transferred the trial of the leader of the Serbian Radical Party to Serbia for contempt of court, the process in Belgrade has not yet begun.

Vojislav Seselj, like many convicted war criminals, regularly appears on nationally broadcast pro-government television stations, in the role of analyst.

"Due to the adoption of the UN Resolution on Srebrenica, representatives of the government in Serbia, state media and tabloids led a fierce campaign against the declaration of July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Genocide," recalled Jovana Kollaric from the HLC.

She added that civil society representatives who called on institutions to vote in favor of the Resolution and recognize the genocide were attacked as "traitors" by pro-government politicians and media.

Even the European Commission, in its latest progress report on Serbia, has warned that "a number of politicians and media outlets, without any consequences, continue to deny war crimes and genocide, as well as to offer support and public space to convicted war criminals."

The Commission concludes that Serbia has not yet demonstrated a real commitment to investigating and punishing war crimes./ REL (A2 Televizion)