These are the first arrests made as part of the investigation into the mass killing of more than 40 civilians committed by Serbian forces in January 1999
Prosecutors (Photo: Screenshot from a video by Sistemi Prokurorial / Facebook)
Kosovo police have arrested five Serbs—including four former police officers—who are suspected of involvement in a war crime committed in 1999. According to reports, reported during a press conference on the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office.
Why is this important?. The arrests in the Racak massacre case demonstrate that investigations into war crimes can take decades, and suspects can be brought to justice even 27 years after the events. This is also relevant for Ukraine, where thousands of war crimes committed by Russian military personnel are being documented. How will Russians be tried for their crimes— Read the analysis LIGA.net
HomeThe investigation believes that the detainees were members of Serbian police special units who participated in the mass killing on January 15, 1999, in the village of Račak, where 42 civilians were killed. A sixth suspect could not be detained because he was not at his place of residence.
→ According to Special Prosecutor Mir Morina, law enforcement officials obtained video footage that enabled them to identify the detainees.
The broader contextThe prosecutor’s office reported that all those detained are Serbian nationals and former employees of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. Four of them are retired, while another was still working for the Serbian postal service.
→ According to the Kosovo Police, one of the suspects was detained at the Deu i Bard border crossing, and four others were detained in various parts of Kosovo.
→ Kosovo’s Minister of the Interior congratulated law enforcement officials on the operation and stated that war crimes will not go unpunished.
→ At the same time, the Kosovar Serb party Lista Serbe called the arrests “a new wave of intimidation and persecution of Serbs” and accused the Kosovar authorities of politically motivated pressure.
What You Need to KnowThe mass killing in Račak was one of the key episodes of the Kosovo War. It was following these events that NATO began bombing Serbia in 1999, which ultimately led to the end of the war and Kosovo’s subsequent declaration of independence.
INFORMATION
More than 13,000 people were killed during the war in Kosovo in 1998–1999. Over 1,500 people are still listed as missing, most of them Albanians. Hundreds of bodies of slain Kosovar Albanians were discovered in mass graves on Serbian territory, where, according to the investigation, they were taken to conceal war crimes.
- In 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice, for the first time in history put forward official Four Russians have been charged with war crimes in Ukraine—they tortured a U.S. citizen.
- Kosovo consistently supports Ukraine in the war against Russia. In 2024, Kosovo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Donika Gerwalla-Schwartz stated that her country is convinced that Russia must lose the war to prevent the conflict from spreading to other parts of Europe. She also emphasized “unconditional” support for Ukraine, despite the fact that Kyiv has not yet recognized Kosovo’s independence.