Kosovo indicts man for taking part in killings of 130 people during war

FILE PHOTO: Forensics search for the human remains believed to be the bodies of over a dozen ethnic Albanians killed during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo outside the village of Kizevak, near Raska, Serbia, December 4, 2020. REUTERS/Fedja Grulovic/File Photo

March 29, 2022

PRISTINA (Reuters) – Kosovo government prosecutors said on Tuesday they have indicted an Albanian man accused of participating in the killings of 130 ethnic Albanians more than two decades ago during Kosovo’s war for independence.Prosecutors said the Kosovo-born man, identified only by the initials M.A., was part of the Serb forces during the 1998-99 war when they launched a bloody crackdown against an Albanian insurgency.

The man had been hiding in Serbia until a year ago when he was arrested during a visit in Kosovo, they said.

“The defendant M.A. together with others who still remain unidentified from the Serbian police and military forces, took part in the execution of 130 persons,” the prosecutors said in a statement, adding that 12 people survived.They said more than 100 witnesses were interviewed, and that they were investigating other possible suspects.

At least 13,000 people died during the war in Kosovo, most of them ethnic Albanians.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008 almost a decade after NATO launched air strikes against Serb police and military forces accused of committing atrocities against ethnic Albanians.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases