Special Prosecutor this year aims to file indictment for the Dubrava massacre of Recak, prison

Meanwhile, to ensure more efficient treatment of war crimes cases, the institution is required to establish several international standards, including the adoption of a special law and the establishment of a separate court for handling these cases within the country.

Kosovo Special Prosecutor Ilir Morina's head of the War Crimes Department, in an interview for Kosovo Press, has declared that over the past four years this entity has been highly consolidated in its operation.

The special prosecutor stressed that for one of the biggest massacres, Recak's, investigations within Kosovo's territory have already been completed.

According to him, the challenge remains to provide material evidence that lies in Serbia, including those preserved in the former International War Crimes Tribunal in the former Yugoslavia. Morina stressed that lack of co-operation with Serbian authorities makes it impossible to provide evidence.

Similarly, Morina said that soon an indictment is expected even in the case of the deportation of Albanian civilians from Kosovo, which she described as one of the biggest cases this prosecutor is handling.

“For the Recak massacre we have opened investigations, conducted investigations concerning the territory of Kosovo, carried out all procedural actions required. Now half of the evidence, or the most important evidence of this case, lies in Serbia in the former international court for the former Yugoslavia, now called the residence mechanism, in these institutions unfortunately we have to strengthen co-operation. For Serbia we have no co-operation at all, and thus it is impossible to obtain concrete evidence. We're making the maximum effort to provide them with evidence so that by the end of this year we can establish Recak's indictment. We are working and we are expecting very soon to complete the case of the civil population's penetration, deportation is one of the biggest cases this prosecutor is developing, we expect this year to set up charges in that case. We have identified a host of the cases we are working on and we expect some of them to end up in this year”, he said.

Already, when for one accused of involvement in the Dubrava massacre, the first-instance court has ruled a release order, for the overall massacre that took place in this war-time prison, 400 witnesses of 700 witnesses were interviewed to testify to this massacre, where more than 117 Albanian prisoners and 300 others were injured.

Even for the leaders of this massacre, Kosovo's Special Prosecutor is aiming to file an indictment within this year.

“Inventions are under way... the case as a whole is still under way and we expect it very soon to be completed... we are making efforts to complete the case of the Dubrava massacre and establish an indictment in absentia, as all defendants are not found on Kosovo territory at least so far as police have proven, but it is a big job required to be done, 700 witnesses have been identified who need to be interviewed each of them. So far the police have reached 400 of them, each. We have high hopes that we will increase co-operation with the former international criminal court in The Hague and provide some important material evidence in terms of command responsibility in concrete case”, prosecutor Morina stressed.

The war crimes department within the SPRK, from 2021, has filed a total of 37 war crimes charges, of 12 for trial in absentia.

However, special prosecutor Ilir Morina has considered it very important to create a international judiciary co-operation with the Serbian state.

From 2021 until March 2025, we have set up 37 counts of war crimes, we're talking about a period of four years, until international organisations for 20 years are in 19 indictments, we've established a considerable number of the cases. In 2023 alone, we have set up 15 charges for 63 people, and in 2024, we have set up 14 counts for 25 people and an indictment for 53 people who are the massacre of Meja. For the three-month period of 2025, we have filed four charges against six people. In total, we have 14 indictments in absentia, of which we have 12 charges inherited from international missions that are found in court, and must start judgment in absentia, and a total of 26 acts are committed to”, he stressed.

Morina estimates that not enough has been done to establish professional capacities for judges dealing with war crimes cases.

Morina has stressed the need for a specific legal framework and a special jury to deal only with cases of such crimes.

One of the main challenges, according to him, is the acceptance of old evidence from the years 99, 2000 or 2001 in criminal procedures, depending on the court's decisions.

In the last five years, we have received authorisations from international missions, we have continued efforts to establish the professional capacities of police and prosecutors, but since I have observed much less judges and finally all this work that we do at the end is decided on the part of judges. Therefore, the focus must also be on judges to establish their professional capacity in the application of international standards. We seek a specific legal framework only for war crimes and in the sense of structure, we seek a court, a department and entity that only deals with war crimes. In the sense of the legal framework, we continue to stress that as long as most international states have special war crimes laws, we conduct them with the Penal Procedure Code, which is general even for terrorism and organised crime. A challenging standard that may be in this case is whether a statement issued in 990) or 2000, 2001, will Kosovo's court accept as evidence in a criminal procedure”, the special prosecutor says.

War Crimes Department chief Ilir Morina stresses the need for the judicial system instead to follow international standards in these cases, especially in terms of witness statements.

The key thing is that Kosovo courts, like any international court, are to set standards. for these last two decisions, we are awaiting written judgments so that we understand what happened, what has been the court's position in these last two judgments. Yet, it does behave or leave the impression of what the judge read during the proclamation was that he has not forgiven faith the statements of witnesses. In contrast, The Hague tribunal on standards three, says difficulties in memory are not unusual due to trauma and that does not say their evidence is invalid. Therefore, it is required by our courts to create standards in war crimes cases, especially in terms of witness statements, not every witness statement can be forgiven trust, but it can be managed and examined in the spirit of standards set by international courts. Another criterion our courts are required to have and so far do not have it as standard in Kosovo's judicial system is the responsibility of the person acting in the group”, Morina said.

Special Prosecution Department leader Ilir Morina highlights the need to increase the number of special prosecutors in this department, as well as support staff.

Currently, five special prosecutors are engaged in this department, including only one dealing with cases of sexual assault.

Last week, the trial began for the Meja massacre as one of the largest massacres against the Albanian population by Serb forces. This trial includes 53 accused and in the absence of the security of accused persons, the trial will be held in absentia.

In the last war in Kosovo, more than 13 thousand civilians have been killed and massacred, sexually raped 20,000 women and men, while more than 1600 people are still missing by force. /Periscope/