The facts date back around thirty years. Kosovo police arrested five Serbs this Sunday, including four former police officers, suspected of having participated in a war crime in 1999, we learned from a judicial source.
These are the first arrests in the investigation into the massacre of more than 40 Kosovar civilians committed by Serbian forces in the village of Recak (Racak in Serbian) in January 1999, a prosecutor told the press. “These people were identified as belonging to the special units of the Serbian police at the time when they participated in the operation of January 5, 1999 in Recak,” declared prosecutor Ilir Morina.
This is the second investigation opened by the Kosovar justice system for the Recak massacre. A preliminary hearing in the trial of 21 Serbs for their alleged role in the executions, including former senior Serbian police officials, is scheduled for July 20. The case against the five people arrested on Sunday has been nicknamed “Recak 2”.
A trial in absentia for 21 people on the run
The indictment for the first investigation into the Recak massacres targets 21 former members of the Serbian army and police for murder, torture, inhumane treatment, destruction of property and deportation of Kosovo Albanian civilians. Among those indicted are former Serbian police chief Obrad Stevanovic and former intelligence chief Rade Markovic, as well as two generals and two colonels. With the 21 accused on the run, Kosovar prosecutors requested that the trial be held in absentia.
During the operation in Recak, 42 Kosovar civilians of all ages and sexes were brutally killed, according to the indictment. This massacre was one of the most serious crimes committed against civilians during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War. It became a turning point in the conflict, scandalizing Western countries and triggering a NATO bombing campaign against the forces of the Serbian strongman of the time, Slobodan Milosevic.
The campaign ended with the withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo, the establishment of a UN mission in the territory and, ultimately, the country’s declaration of independence in 2008. But Belgrade still does not recognize this independence. More than 13,000 people died during the conflict in Kosovo, mainly Kosovars.
