The Basic Court in Pristina has ordered a 30-day pre-trial detention measure against suspect Dragiša Milenković from the Municipality of Graçanica, upon the request of the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office of Kosovo.

He was arrested on June 21 on suspicion of committing war crimes against the civilian population.

“The judge of the preliminary procedure has approved the request of the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kosovo for the imposition of pre-trial detention measure against defendant D.M., and the same measure of pre-trial detention has been imposed on him for a duration of one month,” said a statement from the Basic Court in Pristina.

Milenković is suspected of having systematically committed torture, physical and psychological violence as a former guard at the Pristina and Lipjan Prisons in May and June 1999, and of having treated Albanian prisoners in an inhumane manner.

During the arrest, police also searched his house, where they reportedly seized a firearm, a military knife, a metal shovel, documents, decisions, notes, and his personal phone as material evidence.

Meanwhile, on June 22, a protest was held in Graçanica, a municipality with a Serb majority near Pristina, demanding the release of Milenković.

The Serb List, the largest party representing Serbs in Kosovo, and the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, have opposed this arrest.

They stated that Milenković was arrested “without basis” and that the Kosovo authorities are “taking revenge” on Serbs in Kosovo with this arrest. However, they did not provide evidence for their claims.

During the war in Kosovo, from 1998 to 1999, more than 13,500 people were killed.

It is believed that 76 percent of them were civilians. Additionally, around 1,600 missing persons are still being sought, mainly from the Albanian community.