Kosovo charges Serbian citizen with war crimes News
Kosovo charges Serbian citizen with war crimes

[JURIST] Prosecutors in Kosovo on Friday charged a Serbian citizen with war crimes for acts committed during the 1998-99 war. The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo [official website] released a statement [press release] announcing the indictment of the defendant, identified only as “B.S.,” for actions allegedly committed in Fushe, Kosovo, in 1999. The statement also indicates the indictment was filed by the Special Prosecution after B.S. was extradited from Bosnia.

In January 2016 a special court was set up in The Hague to investigate and try alleged war crimes committed during 1998-99 [JURIST report]. In July 2015 11 Kosovo Albanian men were sentenced [JURIST report] to prison for war crimes. In February 2014 Serbia’s war crimes court convicted [JURIST report] nine former paramilitaries for their involvement in the genocide of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1999. Two former Serbian secret service officials were arrested [JURIST report] under suspicion that they planned the 1999 killing of an anti-government journalist. In 2013 Amnesty International accused [JURIST report] the UN Mission in Kosovo of failing to adequately investigate war crimes committed during the conflict. Kosovo held its first local elections [JURIST report] in November 2013 since it seceded from Serbia in 2008. Serbia still does not recognize the secession.