Witness: I saw Vukotitch execute a 14-year-old in Studies

At the trial hearing of the trial of Zoran Vuketiqi, who is accused of war crimes against Albanian civilians, two witnesses testified.

Shaip Gerjaliu related what had happened on May 2nd and 3, 1999, at the time when the civilian population of the Vushtrri area had been expelled from their homes by Serb forces.

On May 2nd afternoon, Gerjaliu said, two villagers have come and have been told that tomorrow, May 3, they will be ready to leave for Vushtrri.

After that we heard gunshots, the witness said.

When we went to the village of Upper Studies and Lower Studies, the column which has been moving which was 6 to 7 kilometers long is the block. And the first tractors are stopping in front of my house in Low Studies, Bajram Mullaku had gone to the police station to talk and show that we are surrendering. But someone told him it was a curfew and that until the next day we had to stay there”, the witness added.

Asked by the prosecutor whether someone came to talk while they were still there, Shaip Gerjaliu stated that with Rexhep Mullaku, Ekrem Mullaku, Naser Mullaku of Lutfi Mullaku stood in front of the tractors and that it was dark and all they saw is through the moon's ray.

According to the witness, two Serb groups have already arrived.

The first have sought to clear the road, while the second group, among which was accused Zoran Vukotic, have begun with mistreatment.

Gerjaliu said he was beaten by the accused.

When the first Serbs arrived, they asked for you to clear the road and passed through the front of the column. And in the second group came Zoran Vukotic, whom I knew. As soon as I saw him, I met him and left my tractor a couple of feet. He saw me, wanted to fight and swear on Nanna. While Uncle Rexhep was standing in front of him, he then asked him to approach him”, the witness said.

Following the statement, Gerjaliu indicated how during the time when Rexhep Mullaku was under the mark of Zoran Vukotic, a young man had fled from several other policemen and then in his presence and all others had been killed by Zoran Vukotic.

At the moment when Zoran was targeting Rexhep Mullaku, a boy running from other police officers has touched Zoran's arm, who dropped his gun on the ground but her belt was on his neck. He grabbed the boy's throat, saying: Are you leaving? He took the tractor behind him by pulling it out of his clothes. The boy has sometimes been heard saying: “Then the boy ran about in the field. This guy's got my back. The boy took his hands up and fell on his face. He went near and gave him another bullet. I'm sure he shot him in the head”, said witness Gerjaliu.

At the end of the testimony, the accused told the witness that “you misread the text”. Gerjaliu, however, told him that everything is proved either for good or for bad.

The Special Prosecutor of the Republic of Kosovo accuses Zoran Vukotovic of war crimes against the civilian population.

According to the indictment, the accused between May 2nd and 3rd 1999, in his capacity as a reserve police official from the police station in Vushtrri to co-ordination with other members from the ranks of Serbian forces participated in the attack on the Albanian civilian population, which was travelling to the village of Upper Studies in Central Studies.

During this time, according to the indictment, the civil population is deliberately subjected to brutal and illegal killings, nonhuman treatment, endless suffering, deportation, and the application of terror measures.

Among these civilians killed, wounded and treated unhumanally for whom the accused carries direct responsibility or in collaboration with others were: Ekrem Mullaku, Xhavit Mullaku, Fatmir (Ahmet) Gerjaliu, Ashref Rasica, Adnan Bulnjak, Ademi, an unidentified 14-year-old, Haki Ademi, Shaip Gerjaliu and Musa Gerjaliu.

Afterwards, the testimony has also given the injured Fatmir Parduz.

Before the court he confessed what had happened on May 3, 1999.

He showed how Serb forces under the way the removal of Zoran Vukotik had separated all males from 14 to 65 years of age and sent them to the Smrekonica prison.

The Witness said that the mistreatment of prisoners had begun when they were sent there.

We've experienced very bad things since we've been there. When we're sitting on bread, Zoran would come and hit the table by hand and without even beginning to eat, he would say, "Get up!"

He also told of the beatings he and all the other prisoners had experienced.

When asked whether medical help was offered to anyone, he indicated that never - even without sharing it in the rooms - an elderly man was very sick and never helped.

There were also mentally ill people there, but there was no consideration for them at all”, the witness stressed.

Parduz indicated that accused Zora Vukotic produced Serbian folk music, made a stir at the time he was a prison guard, then forced them to beat the prisoners between them, and received inspiration.

In the third part of the indictment, the accused between May 3rd and the end of June 1999, the accused, also acting as a prison guard in co-ordination with other members, had mistreated Albanian civilians at the Smrekonica prison.

Among the civilians who had been subjected to inhuman treatment and endless suffering through torture, beating, other abuses for which the defendant carries direct responsibility or in association with others were: Sabit Kadriu, Musa Mustafa, Musli Uka, Fatmir Parduz, Bekim Musa, Shefket Binaku, Gani Hajreniaj, Azem Osmani, Safet Osmani, Izet Ferati, Dritton Ferati, Sabit Gerjaliu and Bekir Ferati.

Zoran Vukotic was extradited from Montenegro to Kosovo in November 2016.