11 indictments for war crimes have been filed as of December last year. During this period, 36 people have been charged, including 33 for trial in absentia.
This was announced by the Special Prosecution Office, while saying that the total number of indictments in absentia is 20, in which 102 people are accused, KosovaPress writes.
“The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo informs you that during 2025, specifically until December 01 of this year, 11 indictments have been filed for the criminal offense “War crime against the civilian population. During this period, 36 persons have been charged, of which 33 persons have been charged for trial in absentia, while 8 requests for detention have been filed against 10 persons. Meanwhile, the total number of cases with indictments is: 74 cases with 80 indictments against 216 persons. The number of indictments submitted with trial in absentia is: 20 indictments for trial in absentia against 102 persons,” this response states.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Fejzullah Hasani speaks about the difficulties local authorities have in prosecuting war criminals. He emphasizes that a lot of time has passed and that “evidence is easily destroyed.”
“It is good that trials in absentia have been allowed for war crimes, namely crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. Although in terms of effects I do not believe that it will have many effects, due to the fact that the law there states that the moment such persons become accessible to the prosecution bodies of Kosovo, the procedure, if they request it, must be immediately retried, the case must be started again from the beginning.
“So the problem is firstly to have access to them to serve the sentence and whether the decisions become final. Secondly, we know that we do not have any cooperation with Serbia, which makes it unlikely that they can hand over such persons. I believe that no matter what pressure is exerted on them, they are not ready to hand them over. So firstly, it is difficult to believe that they will be handed over to Kosovo to serve the sentence, and secondly, it is a problem for Serbia to execute our decisions even if an agreement is reached in the meantime,” says Hasani.
He says, among other things, that it is important for Kosovo to have final judgments for war crimes.
“That is, they may remain only judgments on paper, if they are never executed. But in any case, it is important for us that Kosovo has completed processes, has final judgments, then it will be easier for us in relation to the negotiations that will definitely take place in the future with Serbia, for those decisions to be executed or eventually for the convicted persons to be handed over to Kosovo to serve their sentences,” he adds.
Amer Alija from the Humanitarian Law Center says that in recent years, indictments in absentia for war crimes have dominated.
“In the last two or three years, trials in absentia or indictments filed against defendants who are not in the territory of Kosovo have been dominating over indictments against persons who are arrested or who are present in court. As we have seen, this year there was also a first-instance verdict for sexual rape as a war crime against two persons accused in absentia. This is the first verdict in absentia for this type of criminal offense, namely sexual rape. Previously, there were two or three other first-instance verdicts in absentia,” Alija said.
The Kosovo Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors considers 2025 to be the year of justice.
Fatmire Haliti from this organization says that there has been progress in terms of access to justice for survivors of sexual violence during the war in Kosovo.
“During 2025, three trials for sexual violence during the war in Kosovo were held and concluded, while two trials are currently underway, where we expect to have trials as soon as possible. Among the three trials that have been held, we have one conviction with 15 years of imprisonment, where the accused was convicted and is serving his sentence, and we also have the first verdict in absentia for sexual violence, where two perpetrators of sexual violence were sentenced to 15 years in prison each…. So, in 2025 we had the first verdict in absentia, where two accused, Ivica Rajkovic and Dragan Denic, were sentenced to 15 years in prison each. And this case has paved the way for other cases, it has created a certain standard on how to treat them, considering that they are more sensitive cases for the justice system, because they must follow a series of procedures in advance before the trial begins,” concludes Haliti.
The first verdict in absentia was announced in 2024, where the convicted person is Çedomir Aksić, who committed war crimes in Reçak, Mulapolc and Petrovë – villages in the municipality of Shtime.