Kosovo prosecutors charge 35 suspects in Prekaz case
Kosovo’s Special Prosecution has charged 35 suspects with involvement in the killing of 26 civilians at the family compound of Kosovo Liberation Army commander Adem Jashari in the village of Prekaz in March 1998. The proceedings concern events on March 5, 6 and 7, 1998, in the Jashari area of Prekaz, Skenderaj municipality.
Former Serbian officials among those implicated
As Balkan Insight reports, those named in the indictment include former head of Serbia’s State Security Service Jovica Stanišić, former senior Serbian Interior Ministry official Vlastimir Đorđević, wartime chief of staff of the Serbian Interior Ministry in Kosovo Sreten Lukić, and former commander of the Special Operations Unit of Serbia’s State Security Service Milorad Ulemek, known as Legija.
Prosecutor Valdet Gashi said the investigation collected material evidence and testimony which, in the prosecution’s assessment, provide grounds to suspect 35 people of war crimes against the civilian population. According to him, those implicated in the case held senior command positions in Serbian special police units.
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Indictment filed in absentia
Serbian police and military forces besieged the Jashari family compound in Prekaz from March 5 to 7, 1998. As a result of the assault, 59 people were killed, including Adem Jashari. The attack caused outrage among Kosovo Albanians and is viewed as an event that intensified armed resistance to the regime of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević.
According to Gashi, the indictment was filed in absentia because the authorities were unable to secure the suspects’ presence. Stanišić is serving a sentence for war crimes in another case following a verdict by the Hague Tribunal. Ulemek is imprisoned for his role in the murder of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, while Đorđević and Lukić have already been released after serving sentences for other war crimes.
Kosovo’s Chief Special Prosecutor Blerim Isufaj called this the first indictment concerning the killings of civilians at the Jashari family compound. Legal cooperation between Kosovo and Serbia in war-crimes cases from the 1998–1999 war remains almost nonexistent, so, according to Balkan Insight’s assessment, most of the accused are unlikely to be available for trial.
