{"id":85495,"date":"2026-07-03T14:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=85495"},"modified":"2026-07-03T21:49:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T19:49:04","slug":"ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/","title":{"rendered":"Ekrem Bajroviq Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison Again in Retrial for War Crimes Against Albanians in Istog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Basic Court in Pristina has once again sentenced Ekrem Bajroviq to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of war crimes against the civilian population committed during the 1998\u20131999 Kosovo war in the municipality of Istog. The case had been returned for retrial by the Supreme Court of Kosovo, but the Basic Court reaffirmed the defendant\u2019s guilt.<\/p>\n<p>According to the indictment filed by the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo on September 15, 2023, Bajroviq is accused of participating, both individually and in cooperation with other members of the Serbian police and military forces, in a widespread campaign of crimes against the Albanian civilian population.<\/p>\n<p>The indictment alleges that he took part in killings, house raids, beatings, abuse, arbitrary arrests, torture, cruel and inhuman treatment, unlawful detention in conditions resembling slavery, forced displacement, deportation, looting, arson, and the destruction of homes belonging to Albanian civilians in the municipality of Istog and surrounding villages during the Kosovo war.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors argue that, through his actions and cooperation with other Serbian police and military personnel, Bajroviq contributed to the implementation of repressive measures targeting Albanian civilians, including murder, physical abuse, torture, forced displacement, and the systematic destruction and looting of civilian property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Basic Court in Pristina has once again sentenced Ekrem Bajroviq to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of war crimes against the civilian population committed during the 1998\u20131999 Kosovo war in the municipality of Istog. The case had been returned for retrial by the Supreme Court of Kosovo, but the Basic Court [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":85496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[243,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ekrem Bajroviq Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison Again in Retrial for War Crimes Against Albanians in Istog - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ekrem Bajroviq Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison Again in Retrial for War Crimes Against Albanians in Istog - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Basic Court in Pristina has once again sentenced Ekrem Bajroviq to 12 years in prison after finding him guilty of war crimes against the civilian population committed during the 1998\u20131999 Kosovo war in the municipality of Istog. The case had been returned for retrial by the Supreme Court of Kosovo, but the Basic Court [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T12:08:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T19:49:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1953.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nen Si\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nen Si\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nen Si\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/444d280f35e047949b7f0bc08093608f\"},\"headline\":\"Ekrem Bajroviq Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison Again in Retrial for War Crimes Against Albanians in Istog\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T12:08:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-03T19:49:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/\"},\"wordCount\":216,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_1953.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"kryesore 1\",\"Kryesoret\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Albania\",\"Latest news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/ekrem-bajroviq-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-again-in-retrial-for-war-crimes-against-albanians-in-istog\/\",\"name\":\"Ekrem Bajroviq Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison Again in Retrial for War Crimes Against Albanians in Istog - 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