Serbia continues to arrest Kosovo citizens on war crimes charges

Official Belgrade has failed to respond to Kosovo's requests for the release of its citizens, who were arrested by authorities in Serbia on war crimes charges in the late '90s.

Hasan Dajaj, former Kosovo Liberation Army member (UÇK), is a citizen of Kosovo, the last to be arrested in Serbia. He, on January 6th, has been assigned a month-long detention measure.

On January 10th, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said Serbia “continues its journey towards the methods of [Russian president Vladimir] Putin” and that the arrests of Kosovo citizens are the intentional and unfair “”.

In addition to Dajaj, in the last three years, two other Kosovo citizens have been arrested in Serbia, with allegations allegedly committing crimes during the war in Kosovo.

Serbia's Justice Ministry did not answer Radio Free Europe questions regarding the Kosovo authorities' demands for the extradition of its citizens and co-operation with Kosovo on the basis of the bilateral legal assistance agreement the two sides signed in 2013 in Brussels.

Fund for Humanitarian Law (FDH) non-governmental organisation in Serbia says that in such cases Serbia should hand over all evidence to the country, whose citizen has been arrested.

Serbia does not recognise Kosovo, so that kind of co-operation does not exist with the prosecution there, even though, earlier, at least there has been technical co-operation with the [European Union for Endim mission in Kosovo] EULEX”, says Jovana Kolariq of the FDH.

Kosovo's Council for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms warns of the possible danger of arrest for all former KLA members, so it advises them to avoid travel through Serbia.

What do they say in Belgrade?

Hasan Dajaj and his brother Xaviti were arrested by Serbian authorities on January 5th after entering Serbia via the Merdarna border from Kosovo.

Xavit, after the ban, was released. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court in Belgrade, on January 6th, assigned Hasan Dallaj's month-long detention measure, as told the REL by this court, due to the risk of escape.

Serbia's War Crimes Prosecutor charges him as a war crimes accomplice against the civilian population.

The prosecution has not answered the REL's question about what crime Dajaj is all about and exactly what exactly is charged with.

The Dajaj family's legal representative, Xhevdet Smakqi, told Radio Free Europe that Hasan Dajaj is charged under Article 142 of the former Yugoslavia's Criminal Code for War Crimes, the removal of freedoms of non-Albanians, beatings, torture and murder.

Smakqi also stated that Serbian authorities claim these crimes were committed in Prizren's district.

According to Smakqi, Dakaj has flatly denied the accusations before Serbia's judicial bodies.

He didn't act at all in those locals and feel completely innocent. We consider this a political prison. The prosecution has not identified who it is, nor the witnesses who claim they will identify a 19-year-old person who is now about 50-x1>, Smakqi said.

Dajaj is in custody in Belgrade.

He has been assigned a lawyer according to his official duty, with which no contact was reached.

What do they say in Kosovo?

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti accused Serbia of, as he described, unjust, deliberate and malicious arrests of Kosovo citizens.

Hazasan Dazaj, still being held there unjustly and arbitraryly. This is not the first time, nor does it present an isolated case. This is a deliberate, malicious behaviour of Serbia that conflicts with international human rights conventions”, Kurti stressed on January 10th.

Meanwhile, Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspore (MPJD), through an announcement, has announced that the chief of Kosovo's Interconnecting Office in Belgrade, Jetish Jashari, visited him on Wednesday, January 10th, Hasan Dakyan at the Special Court's Centre for War Crimes; where he is being held.

As far as his treatment is concerned, citizen Dajaj has stressed that so far he has not experienced any physical or other form of torture. Meanwhile, he has been allowed to contact his family” by phone, the Kosovo MPJD report said.

In the announcement, it was also said that during the visit to Dajajaj, he has confirmed that Belgrade's High War Crimes Prosecutor charges it “to allegedly war crimes against the non-Albanian population during the 1999-85x1> war in Kosovo.

On Wednesday, Kosovo Justice Minister Albulen Haxhiu said the ministry she heads is in contact with the Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has information on Dakaj and is overseeing his situation.

Haxhiu called on the international community to put more pressure on Serbia, and “do not ignore such actions as Serbia consistently does”.

Authorities in Kosovo have said earlier that the European Union office in Serbia and the embassies of the United States of America and Great Britain have announced the case.

“This is not the first time our citizens are mistreated, arrested and held for years in Serbian prisons, despite our efforts to create international judicial co-operation on such cases”, Haxhi said at a news conference.

She stressed that Petit Dula, who has suffered the sentence in Serbia, has been unjustly condemned, meanwhile, Nezir Mehmetajt remains in custody, without any grounds.

Kosovo earlier requested the extradition of Dula and Mehmetaj from Serbia, but the answer has never returned.

Who and why was arrested by Serbia?

According to the Fund for Humanitarian Law data in Belgrade, four people at Serbia's border with Kosovo have been arrested, who have been tried for war crimes.

In April 2012, Mark Kashnjet was arrested and tried for crimes against civilians in Prizren, Kosovo.

The fugitive was acquitted.

The trial found that the evidence, referred to in the first degree court, did not indicate with sufficient certainty that the defendant has taken incriminating actions, which he is charged with”, says Free Europe Radio Jovana Kolariq from the FHD.

In 2018, Ramadan Maloku was arrested and charged with a crime in the Upper Nerodiem in the Ferizaj municipality.

Admitting the plea agreement, in March 2019, he was sentenced to a year and a half in prison.

The “as in other judgments, with which the pleas are confirmed, the court, instead of explaining the bias according to the regulation, it only lists the provisions of the Law for Criminal Procedure and, in fact, we do not know on what basis the decision has been made”, says Jovana Kolariq.

In November 2022, the Supreme Court in Belgrade found Petrit Dula guilty of war crimes in a village near Gjakova in 1999, while he was a member of the KLA.

Then Dula was acquitted in April 2023.

In Belgrade, he served the first-degree court sentence of two years in prison.
Nezir Mehmetaj, who was arrested by Serbian authorities in January 2020 at the Merdara border checkpoint, is still in custody in Serbia.

He is accused of taking part in war crimes against the civilian population in the village of Rudica in the municipality of Kline, Kosovo, in 1999.

Serbia's prosecution filed an indictment against him in July 2020, while the trial began in April 2021.

Valon Mehmetaj, Nezir Mehmetaj's brother, tells Radio Free Europe that the latest session was held on December 14, 2023, while the next session is expected in late February 2024.

The trial is held, but they have no evidence. They're just continuing their detention”, Mehmetaj says.

He adds that Neziri has been visited by his children but not by him and other brothers in prison.

We always have the suspicion that we are being ensnared”, says Valon Neziraj, referring to the possibility of their arrest and eventual by Serbian authorities.

He estimates that keeping his brother in custody for four years is “the beginning of any human right”.

Serbia's war crimes prosecutor did not answer REL questions regarding the Mehmetaj procedure.

The trial was postponed many times because of not being sent by witnesses or the inability to access. Also, because of changing the chairman of the court, the court hearing in this case began again in June 2023<18x1>, says Jovana Kolariq of FHD.

She adds that for three years the prosecution has insisted that a protected witness, whose presence is unable to ensure and the court tolerated such behavior, although the witness himself in some cases told the court that he did not want to testify.

Also, in 2016, Nehat Thaci, former Mitrovica police commander, was arrested for the first time and released on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the Nis Supreme Court for Terrorism.

The same day he was released, Hilmi Kelmendi was arrested on charges of war crimes, but the prosecution resigned from prosecution and after several days, he was acquitted.

Danger of Arrest for All Former KLA Partants

From the Council for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Kosovo say Hasan Dajaj and Nezir Mehmetaj are currently the only two Kosovo citizens to be held in custody in Serbia.

Behxhet Shala from this council stresses that the risk of arrest in Serbia exists for all former KLA members.

Serbia could just get the names it needs or copy the list of [KLA] veterans and put it into its databases. Based on that list of veterans, each of them on the list, if they have interest or opportunity, will be arrested”, Shala says.

It advises that all of them avoid traveling across Serbia's territory.

Shala considers that Albanian arrests at the border with Serbia are expected to intensify.

The arrest of Albanians will intensify in response to the arrest of Serbs [by Kosovo authorities] or the establishment of war crimes charges in Kosovo. This is just like countering”, Shala points out.

During 2023, Kosovo's Special Prosecutorship has filed 15 counts of war crimes. Eight of them predict judgment in absentia.

What is the solution?

The resolution for such situations would certainly be the existence of international judicial co-operation between Kosovo and Serbia, through the signing of a protocol for co-operation between Kosovo special prosecutors and Serbia”, says Jovana Kolariq from the FD.

In 2013, in Brussels, Serbia and Kosovo reached the Agreement for mutual judicial assistance, with the European Union's mediation (BE).

It envisions that both countries exchange judicial requirements through EU representatives.

Under the deal, Kosovo initially submits its application to the EU Office in Kosovo, from which it is transported to the EU Office in Serbia and from there to Serbia's Ministry of Justice.

The answer is conveyed the same way.

According to data from the Kosovo Institute for Justice, which monitors the work of courts in the country, Serbia has not co-operated in any case concerning war crimes.

Regarding the earlier arrests of Kosovo citizens, the European Union has said that “in cases of prosecution, a priority should be given to the courts of settlements, in Kosovo or in Serbia”. / REL/