The five arrested for war crimes were involved in the Recak massacre.

Five people were arrested on Sunday during a joint operation by the Special Prosecution Office and the Kosovo Police, as part of the war crimes investigation in the case known as "Reçaku II".

According to the Special Prosecution, the arrested are suspected of having been part of the Serbian police special units that participated in the January 15, 1999 operation in Recak, where 42 Albanian civilians were killed.

During the operation, search warrants were executed in several locations, while a sixth suspect was not found at his residence and was not arrested.

In a press conference, the Prosecutor's Office announced that the arrested are of Serbian nationality and former members of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Four of them are pensioners, while one continues to work in the postal services in Serbia.

According to the Kosovo Police, one of the suspects was arrested at the Dheu i Bardhë border crossing in the early hours of the morning, while the other four were arrested at various locations in Kosovo.

During the searches, authorities said they seized documents, uniforms, police equipment and other materials deemed relevant to the investigation.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, congratulated the Kosovo Police, the Prosecution and the KIA for the action, writing on Facebook that war crimes will not go unpunished and that the prosecution of those responsible will continue without compromise.

The action has also prompted a reaction from the Serbian List, the largest party of Kosovo Serbs that enjoys the support of the government in Belgrade, which said that it is a "new wave of intimidation and persecution of Serbs in Štrpce and Gjilan through unfounded arrests", with the aim of "creating an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty and additional pressure on the Serbian people".

"What we are seeing is pure institutional violence and politically motivated pressure on the Serbian people. For several years now, through such actions, Pristina has attempted to build a dangerous narrative, according to which any Serb who was of age in 1999 can be accused without any basis of the most serious criminal offenses," the Serbian List said in a Facebook post.

Recently, Kosovar authorities have arrested numerous suspects and filed a series of indictments for war crimes in Kosovo.

Meanwhile, since the end of the war, dozens of suspects have been convicted of these crimes before local and international institutions.

Initially after the war, from 2000 and 2008 respectively, war crimes in Kosovo were investigated by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), and from 2008, by the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX).

In 2018, EULEX handed over the cases to local justice authorities.

Previously, in connection with the "Reçaku II" case, the Special Prosecution Office had filed an indictment in absentia against 21 people suspected of war crimes against the civilian population.

Special Prosecutor Mir Morina said that investigations have continued even after the indictment in absentia against 21 people in December last year and that over the last six months, new evidence has been obtained that has enabled the identification of those arrested.

According to him, the identification of the suspects was made through video recordings and other evidence obtained during the investigation, including materials previously published by the media in Kosovo and Serbia.

Morina said that the investigations are not only focused on the perpetrators of the crime, but also on its organizers and orderlies.

Trial in absentia, which the Special Prosecution had requested for this case after the indictment was filed, is possible in Kosovo following changes to the Criminal Procedure Code made in 2022.

However, such trials can only take place on the condition that the prosecution and the court have exhausted all means to ensure the presence of the accused.

However, this Code stipulates that persons tried in absentia have the right to an unconditional retrial when arrested.

This massacre prompted NATO to launch bombings to end the 1998-99 war in Kosovo, and ultimately the country's independence several years after liberation.

During the war in Kosovo, from 1998 to 1999, over 13.000 civilians were killed, while thousands more disappeared.

More than 1.500 people are still missing, most of them Albanians.

Hundreds of murdered Kosovo Albanians have been found in mass graves in Serbia. Their bodies were moved by Serbian forces in an attempt to cover up the crimes.

The GeoPost