Vukotić case marks first time in Kosovo that war crimes convictions have been combined
Express newspaper
15/08/2025 6:56
Zoran Vukotić marks the first case in Kosovo of the unification of sentences for war crimes. Facing several indictments for war crimes, Vukotić was convicted of three offenses – war crimes against the civilian population in Kosovo. For the two final sentences, the Basic Court has imposed a combined sentence of 19 years in prison, while it is expected that the case for the murder of a 13-year-old boy will also join this process of unification of sentences, which is still ongoing.
The Basic Court in Pristina has, for the first time, combined sentences for war crimes
Zoran Vukotić has been indicted on five war crimes charges. The court has sentenced him to two final sentences, for sexual rape during the war, and for mistreatment and beating of prisoners in the Smrekonica prison, a sentence of 6 years and six months. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of 13-year-old Burim Muli during the war, a sentence that is expected to become final.
Vukotić committed these crimes during the war in the territory of Vushtrri.
For the final sentences of 6 and 13 years in prison for Vukotić, the Court in Pristina has combined the sentences and unified them into 19 years in prison, at the request of his defense. The Basic Court in Pristina has confirmed to RTK the unification of these sentences.
“The Basic Court in Pristina has merged the two final sentences against ZV, found guilty of war crimes against the civilian population, by assigning a single sentence of 19 years in prison. The Court of Appeals has rejected the defense attorney’s appeal, while the Supreme Court has ruled the convict’s appeal inadmissible. This is the first case in the court where the merging of sentences for this criminal offense is requested,” the statement says.
In court proceedings, after the announcement of the verdicts, numerous reactions come from the victims, the families of the murdered and other affected people, especially regarding the maximum sentence of 15 years imposed by the court.
The lawyer of the Kosovo Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors, Fatmire Haliti, considers the issuance of this decision as important, which according to her opens a new path in the treatment of these cases at a different level that will serve as a model for other cases.
“In this case, throughout the entire procedure, the most favorable law was applied, the law of the former Yugoslavia that defined rape as a crime against the civilian population, and based on this law, an indictment was filed and a trial was held. When pronouncing the sentence, the judges were also limited based on the interpretations that were made, so I think that there were different interpretations and some of them were unfavorable and unacceptable, especially for the position of the victims and the families of the murdered who manage to testify and bring back the trauma and bring back the entire judicial process, and based on the limits that they applied, it was 15 years of imprisonment, which is absolutely an insignificant sentence in relation to the cruel and inhuman crimes that they committed against the victims, especially vulnerable groups, women, children, the elderly and others,” declared Fatmire Haliti from the “Kosovo Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors”.
Amer Alija from the Humanitarian Law Center in Kosovo explains how the law provides for such a decision, which is the first that a court in Kosovo has issued in the consolidation of sentences for war crimes.
“In my opinion, persons who are sentenced regardless of ethnicity for criminal offenses for war crimes committed during the war who have some final sentences, the sentences cannot exceed 15 years or in certain cases as the regional courts have imposed sentences of 20 years of imprisonment, we in Kosovo, with a decision of the Supreme Court, have created a more lenient practice with a maximum of 15 years, in these cases I think that persons can be sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for criminal offenses for war crimes committed in serious circumstances but in no way can they be sentenced from 16 to 19 years of imprisonment. Because these sentences were not foreseen by the law of the SSR, which is the law”, said Amer Alija from the “Humanitarian Law Fund in Kosovo”.
For Zoran Vukotić, the process will continue until a final epilogue is reached after the next sentence is finalized. The challenge remains how this sentence will be unified with the maximum sentence, taking into account the last sentence of 15 years in prison.
RTK has learned that other victims of wartime sexual rape by Zoran Vukotić will also present their cases to seek justice.