Kosovo police announced on Monday that they have arrested a suspect for war crimes and sexual violence during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo.

The suspect, of Serbian nationality with the initials Z.N, was arrested on Monday afternoon in North Mitrovica during a joint operation between the Police and the Special Prosecutor’s Office of Kosovo, the Police said in a statement.

He is suspected of having committed the crimes during 1999 in the city of Vushtrri and is accused of the criminal offense of “war crimes against the civilian population – sexual violence”, the communiqué states.

The prosecutor has decided to keep the 70-year-old in custody for 48 hours, after he was interrogated in the presence of the defense lawyer.

Last December, the Special Prosecutor’s Office of Kosovo said that it has filed a total of 33 charges, involving 89 people, for war crimes in Kosovo.

Since the end of the last war in Kosovo, about 70 people have been convicted of war crimes before local and international institutions.

From 2000 to 2008, war crimes in Kosovo were investigated by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), while from 2008, by the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX).

In 2018, this mission submitted the cases to the Kosovo Prosecutor’s Office and local courts.

During the last war in Kosovo in 1998-99, over 13,000 civilians were killed and thousands more disappeared.

Over 1,600 people are still missing – most of them Albanians.