The verdict in Peja/Pec
The Pristina Basic Court sentenced Milorad Djokovic to 10 years in prison on Wednesday after finding the Kosovo Serb guilty of war crimes. I find this sentence inadequate compared to the violence used during the May 1999 attack on the village of Ozdrim in the Peja/Pec municipality. Djokovic participated in an armed group that surrounded and attacked Ozdrim in May 1999, an action where military and police forces killed six Albanian civilians and wounded three others during the assault. The indictment notes that the armed group arrested approximately 40 civilians in the village. The prosecution claims that three wounded individuals were sent to a hospital in Peja/Pec, but the group later executed them and buried them in Lutogllave. Five of the six people killed during the attack have remains that the authorities have not yet found. The indictment states that the Serbian armed forces surrounded the village from three different directions to carry out raids, beatings, arrests, torture, and the inhumane and cruel treatment of ethnic Albanian civilians.
Detention and victim responses
The detention of the 40 civilians involved several stages of mistreatment. Twelve people were released after three days of being deprived of food and water and suffering torture. The other 28 civilians were sent to Peja/Pec prison and then transferred to Leskovac prison in Serbia. Following the intervention of the International Committee of the Red Cross, these 28 people secured their release.
| Detention Outcome | Count | Specific Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Released after 3 days | 12 | Deprived of food and water |
| Transferred to Serbia | 28 | Sent to Leskovac prison |
Halit Gashi, one of the damaged parties, told media that "no sentence can bring back the lives of those who were unjustly taken." He also stated, "I don’t know what kind of sentence this is. It’s ridiculous." Following his 2022 arrest, Djokovic, who had previously pleaded not guilty in July 2023, remains the subject of this case. The Serbian government claimed that the arrest was an example of the intimidation of Serbs in Kosovo. I find the government’s claim about intimidation a distraction from the specific details of the murders and torture documented in the indictment. The court’s decision concludes a long legal process regarding the 1999 conflict.
