The Special Prosecution announced that an indictment has been filed against an individual suspected of war crimes against the civilian population in Kosovo.

According to the prosecution, the suspect, identified as S.T., is of Serbian nationality.

He is accused of crimes committed in 1998-1999 in the village of Reznik in Vushtrria and the surrounding villages of this municipality.

According to the statement, the defendant was a member of the Serbian police and military forces and “contributed to killings, raids, beatings, mistreatment, arrests, torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, holding in conditions of slavery, expulsion of thousands of Albanian civilians, as well as acts of looting, burning, and destruction of houses belonging to the Albanian civilian population”.

On December 15, 2022, authorities announced the arrest of S.T., a suspect in war crimes in Vushtrria.

At that time, the head of the Office for Kosovo in the Serbian Government Petar Petković stated that the arrested individual was a former member of the Kosovo Police, Slađan Trajković.

Since the end of the war in Kosovo, about 70 individuals have been convicted of war crimes by local and international justice institutions.

From 2000 to 2008, war crimes were investigated by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). From 2008, the responsibility for investigating these crimes was transferred to the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX). Meanwhile, since 2018, EULEX has handed over the documents relating to war crimes to the judicial institutions of Kosovo.

During the war in Kosovo, from 1998 to 1999, more than 13,500 people were killed. Additionally, over 1,600 individuals, primarily from the Albanian community, are still considered missing.