PRISHTINA, Aug. 4 /ATA/ – Nearly 27 years after the Reçak massacre, Kosovo has opened a trial in absentia against more than 20 former Serbian military and police officers accused of the killing of 42 ethnic Albanian civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.
The first hearing was held in Prishtina on July 31, with all defendants absent as they are believed to be in Serbia. Kosovo authorities have issued international arrest warrants but say there has been no cooperation from Serbian institutions.
According to Kosovo prosecutors, Serbian forces surrounded Reçak village on Jan. 15, 1999, shelled it and killed civilians who were not involved in fighting. The killings triggered international condemnation and were documented by the OSCE mission and later examined by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Serbia has continued to reject the characterization of the events as a massacre, saying those killed were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during a legitimate operation.
Among those indicted is former Serbian special police commander Goran Radosavljević, known as “Guri”, whose name has been linked to the operation in ICTY records but who has never been tried in Serbia.
Kosovo’s Special Prosecution Office said legal requests were sent through international assistance channels, but no response had been received from Serbian authorities.
The Reçak killings remain one of the most significant and documented events of the Kosovo war and contributed to increased international pressure that preceded NATO’s 1999 intervention.
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