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| Europe |
| Serbia Indicts Nine Men in Kosovo Killings |
| 2010-09-12 |
| BELGRADE, Serbia (Reuters) — Serbia has indicted nine former paramilitary members over the killing of 43 ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict, the country’s war crimes prosecutor’s office said Saturday. The move appeared to be a sign of Serbian resolve to deal with its wartime past and burnish its effort to join the European Union. A crucial condition for Serbia’s membership is that it prosecute atrocities committed by Serbs during the 1990s wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. The indictment was the product of a decade of investigation, and was one of the most significant since pro-Western Serbian authorities started arresting former military, paramilitary or police figures on suspicion of war crimes after the ouster of President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Nine men who served with a paramilitary unit known as the Jackals were indicted in connection with the killing of the ethnic Albanian civilians in the Kosovo village of Cuska on May 14, 1999, said the statement from the Special War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, based in Belgrade. They were detained in March. The statement said the suspects “showed immense cruelty” and often fired a “large number of rounds into the backs of their victims. “They later burned bodies to conceal evidence and prevent identification of their victims,” the statement said. The indictment arose from cooperation between the prosecutor’s office and Eulex, the European Union judicial and police mission in Kosovo, the statement added. The Jackals fought alongside Serbian security forces in Kosovo. They were also implicated in rapes, beatings, plundering, and burning of homes and property, the statement said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |