The Special Prosecution Office in Kosovo has filed an indictment on Wednesday against the defendant M.I., an Albanian national, on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of “war crimes against the civilian population” in collaboration with members of Serbian police forces during the last war in Kosovo.

According to a statement released by the Prosecution, the defendant is accused of committing the alleged crimes—including murder, rape, arrests, and mistreatment of the Albanian population—during the period of 1998-1999 in the village of Osek Hylë, in the Municipality of Gjakova.

The trial has been proposed to take place in absentia, as the defendant is currently at large.

Under Kosovo’s judicial system, trials in absentia can only be conducted if the prosecution and the court have exhausted all means to secure the presence of the accused.

On December 26 of last year, the Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Čedomir Aksić to 15 years in prison for war crimes against the civilian population, committed between January and May 1999 in the municipality of Shtime, specifically in the villages of Reçak, Malopolc, and Petrovë.

This was the first war crimes verdict delivered in absentia, based on the amended Criminal Procedure Code of 2022.