GLOGOVAC

1. Missing

GNJILANE

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.1. Killed
2.2. Free
2.2.1. Released by the KLA
2.2.3. Set free

GLOGOVAC

1. Missing

Aleksić, Tomo (M, 34), Serb, from Gornje Obrinje (Abrinja e Epërme), Glogovac Municipality – last seen on 8 June 1999.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo, Kosovo

GNJILANE

1. Missing

Jovanović, Zoran (M), MD (surgeon), Serb, from Gnjilane – disappeared in the first half of July 1999.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo, Kosovo

Sirinić-Cvetković, Vlasta (F), Serb, from Gnjilane (Bojanina St.), proprietor of hardware store; Stojković, Slobodan, Serb, from Gnjilane (Kamnik 3) – disappeared after 14 June 1999 in the Gnjilane area.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo, Kosovo

Furunović, Dragan, (M) Serb – disappeared after 14 June 1999 in Gnjilane.
Source: List of Serbs Kidnapped in Kosovo and Metohija (June-August), KOSOVO.COM

Lazić, Božidar (M, 69); his wife Lazić, Dušica (69), Serbs, from Žegra (Zhegra), Gnjilane Municipality – last seen 15 June 1999 in the Gnjilane area.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo, Kosovo

Stanojković, Siniša (M, 32), Serb, from Trpez (Trpezë), Vitina (Viti) Municipality, fireman with KFOR – disappeared on 17 June 1999 in Gnjilane.

Friends of the missing man stated that he started working as a fireman for KFOR immediately after the deployment of the peacekeeping force. He went to work in the morning of 17 June and has not been seen or heard from since.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stojiljković, Božin (M, 79); his wife Stojiljković, Stanija (73); Stefanović, Ljubinka (F), Serbs, from Vlaštice (Vllashticë), Gnjilane Municipality – last seen on 18 June 1999.

The Stojiljkovićs’ son told the HLC that he last saw his parents when he visited them on 18 June. They and their neighbor Ljubinka Stefanović, a mental patient, were the only Serbs remaining in the village.

On 28 June, the son’s friend from nearby Pasjane village informed him that he had seen through binoculars that the Stojiljković house in Vlaštice had been set on fire. It was only in October that the son was able to go to Vlaštice under KFOR escort. The house was burned down and his parents and Ljubinka Stefanović were no longer in the village. When he asked the Albanian villagers if they knew what had happened, they said they were not in the village when the Stojiljković house was torched.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Arsić, Dragan (M, 36), employee of Mladost abattoir in Gnjilane; Paunović, Jovica (M, 26), Serbs, from Pasjane (Pasjan), Gnjilane Municipality – disappeared on 23 June 1999.

Mrs Arsić related that her husband and Jovica Paunović went to the Gnjilane market to buy vegetables about 9 a.m. on 23 June. They went by car, a WV Jetta, planning to proceed to the market in Bujanovac (Serbia) if they did not find what they needed in Gnjilane. At about 10 a.m., they dropped by to see Teki, an Albanian friend of Arsić, but were told by his mother that he was not at home. They left a message for Teki to meet them at the gasoline station. They were not seen again.

Some ten days later, Major Russell of KFOR notified Mrs Arsić that her husband was in the KLA prison in Gnjilane and that he was trying to obtain his release. KFOR had no information about Jovica Paunović. On 21 June, Muhamed Škodra (Muhamed Shkodra), an Albanian from Draganac, Gnjilane Municipality, telephoned the Arsić family to say that Arsić and Paunović were being held in Albania, and that he could get them released in return for 40,000 deutsche marks. Within two weeks, the family collected 15,000 marks and gave the money to Škodra. The agreement was that he would go immediately to Albania and receive the remaining 25,000 marks when he brought back Arsić and Paunović. Škodra never contacted the family again.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Ristić, Svetozar (M, 46); his brother Ristić, Vitomir (M, 38), Serbs, from Kosovska Kamenica (Kamenica e Kosovës), police officers – disappeared after June 1999 in Gnjilane.

The Ristić brothers were detained by KFOR on the Kosovska Kamenica-Gnjilane road and were released in Gnjilane after being questioned. All trace of them has been lost.
Source: HLC, witness statement

(Last name unknown), Slobodan (M), Serb, from Pavlovac, disappeared after 4 July 1999.
Source: List of Serbs Kidnapped in Kosovo and Metohija (June-August), KOSOVO.COM

Djekić, Milorad (M), Serb, from Koretište (Koretishtë), Gnjilane Municipality – disappeared on 6 July 1999 in the Gnjilane area.
Source: List of Serbs Kidnapped in Kosovo and Metohija (June-August), KOSOVO.COM

Pirić, Ljubiša (M, 26), Serb, from Vrbovac (Urbodë), Vitina Municipality, technician – disappeared on 8 July 1999 in Gnjilane.

Pirić was last seen by an Albanian acquaintance outside a department store in central Gnjilane.
Source: "OZNA" Detective Agency website

Stojanović, Staniša (M, 28), Serb, from Gnjilane (29 Dragi Popović St.), fireman – last seen about 10 a.m. on 10 July 1999.

Mrs Stojanović recounted that her husband came home at 8 a.m. on 10 July after working the night shift. He went out again at 10 a.m. to buy some medicine in the town center and never returned. His wife reported his disappearance to KFOR the next day.

Two weeks later, Stojanović’s superior, an Albanian, telephoned to ask why he was not coming to work. When Mrs Stojanović told him her husband was missing, he laughed and said he must have run off to Serbia with another woman.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Simonović, Siniša (M, 35), Serb, from Šilovo (Shilovë), Gnjilane Municipality, private businessman – disappeared on 10 July 1999 in Gnjilane.

Mrs Simonović said her husband left home between 9 and 10 a.m. on 10 July by car, a beige Renault 4, to buy food at the Gnjilane marketplace. He had many Albanian friends and planned to ask them if they knew anything about the abduction of another Gnjilane Serb, Dragan Ječimović,¹²  the day before. Mrs Simonović does not know which of these friends he was going to see on the way to the market. When he did not return, the family reported his disappearance to KFOR later that day.
Source: HLC, witness statement

¹²  Witness statement on Ječimović’s abduction: Gnjilane, 2. Abducted.
 

Ristić, Sava (M), Serb, from Makreš (Makesh), Gnjilane Municipality – disappeared on 13 July 1999.
All trace of Ristić was lost after he left Makreš for Priština on 13 July.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

Maksimović, Čedomir (M), Serb, from Gnjilane, watchman at Binočka Morava company – disappeared on 16 July 1999.
Maksimović’s friends stated that he was last seen at 6.30 p.m. that day at 6, Bojanina St. in Gnjilane.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Perić, Živojin (M), Serb, from Trnjavica (Trnjavicë), Srbica (Skenderaj) Municipality – disappeared on 17 July on the road to Gnjilane.
Source: List of Serbs Kidnapped in Kosovo and Metohija (June-August), KOSOVO.COM

Stević, Zlatko (M, 34), Serb, from Poneš (Ponesh), Gnjilane Municipality – last seen on 21 July 1999 on the road between Poneš and Gnjilane.

The family told the HLC that Stević left the village at 11.30 a.m. on 21 July in his blue Zastava 750 car, intending to go to the market in Gnjilane. His disappearance was reported to KFOR the same day.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Tasić, Srdjan (M, 31), Serb, from Šilovo, Gnjilane Municipality – last seen on 27 July 1999 in central Gnjilane.

Mrs Tasić stated that her son left home at 3.30 p.m. on 27 July to check up on a field he owned in Gnjilansko Polje. Tasić was intoxicated and angry with KFOR for having taken over his field, and planned to go first to the KFOR headquarters in central Gnjilane to discuss the problem.

When her son failed to return, Mrs Tasić went to the KFOR headquarters the next day to ask if he had been there. KFOR members confirmed that he had and said they had advised him to go to the UN office. KFOR members stationed in Tasić’s field, which is some two kilometers from the town center, told her that they too had seen Tasić. They said he was there for a short time and then took the Mališevski road, emerged on the main road at the waterworks, passed through the checkpoint near the marketplace and proceeded to the town center. He was not seen again.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Pavić, Borislav (M, 67), Serb, from Gnjilane (145 Stojana Trajića St.), medical technician, radiology dept., Gnjilane hospital – disappeared on 5 August 1999.
Pavić’s neighbor recounted that Pavić went to the market to buy feed for his chickens and pigeons on 5 August. He stopped first at a store near the church where he spent about 20 minutes and then left for the market. That was the last time he was seen.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stojanović, Tihomir (M, 34), Serb, from Paralovo (Parallove), Gnjilane Municipality, resided in Smederevo, Serbia – last seen on 17 August 1999 at the Gnjilane bus depot.

A friend told the HLC that Stojanović came to Paralovo on 15 August to see his grandmother and to try to find employment with KFOR as an interpreter. Two days later, on 17 August, he went with KFOR members to Gnjilane. They left him at the bus depot where he was to wait for a bus for Priština.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Denić, Stojan (M, 72), Serb, from Pasjane, Gnjilane Municipality, retired – last seen on 21 August 1999 at the Gnjilane bus depot.

Denić’s son told the HLC his father left Pasjane at 8.30 a.m. on 21 August to check on his apartment in Gnjilane (1/12 Bojanina St.), and to meet with an Albanian friend, Metuš Dubova (Dubova Metush), to discuss the sale of the apartment. At noon, he dropped in on a close family friend in Gradimira Simijonovića St, and was last seen by another friend at 4.30 p.m., waiting at the depot for the bus back to Pasjane.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Tajić, Radovan (M, 28); Mitrović, Dragan (M,23); Jovanović, Goran (M,23), Serbs, from Vrbovac, Vitina Municipality, police officers – disappeared on 3 August 1999 near Dobrčane (Miresh), Gnjilane Municipality.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stolić, Gradimir (M, 32), Serb, from Gnjilane (1 Stojana Trajića St.), waiter at the Baron Cafe – disappeared on 25 August 1999 in central Gnjilane.

Stolić and his wife and children fled to Serbia in mid-July. He returned to Gnjilane on 23 August to retrieve some belongings from their apartment. His mother recounted that he went to the town center to buy cigarettes at 5.45 p.m. on 25 August, and said he would stop at the Baron Cafe where he used to work. When he did not return, his mother reported his disappearance to KFOR.

His mother went several times to the cafe to try to find out something about her son but the staff refused to speak with her.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stanković, Novica, Serb, from Gnjilane (Soliter St.), welder at the Jugoterm company – last seen at the end of August 1999.

Stanković left for Bujanovac (Serbia) in late August. A friend, Milorad Vučić, saw him off at the bus depot. Stanković never arrived in Bujanovac.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

Busatović, Ljubica (F, 27), Serb, from Dobrčan, Gnjilane Municipality – last seen on 10 November 1999
Source: Persons missing in relation to the events in Kosovo from January 1998, ICRC

2. Abducted

Milošević, Dragan (M, 24), Serbian Serb, from Aleksinac, machinist; Stoiljković, Dragan (M, 31), Serbian Serb, from Leskovac, auto mechanic, Yugoslav Army reservists – abducted on 6 June in Iskrut, Gnjilane Municipality (listed as killed).

Mrs. Milošević told the HLC her son and Dragan Stoiljković were wounded at 5.30 p.m. on 6 June in fighting with the KLA at Iskrut village. They were taken to an abandoned house and cared for by a nurse called Goca. At 9 p.m., two KLA members came to the house and took them away.

A few days later, the Yugoslav Army notified the family that Milošević had been killed. The Army said Stoiljković and another three soldiers went AWOL at 5.30 p.m. on 6 June, stole a tractor and horse-drawn cart and looted abandoned houses in the surrounding villages, that they were ambushed by the KLA, that Milošević and Stoiljković were killed while the others were able to get away and return to their unit.

Mr. Stoiljković told the HLC that his son, Dragan Milošević and another three soldiers were loading property from abandoned houses in Žegovac (Zhegofc) village at about 6 p.m. They were attacked by the KLA as they were returning. His son and Milošević were wounded, the three other soldiers managed to escape. The Stoiljković family also learned that a nurse by the name of Gordana from a nearby village attended to the two wounded in an abandoned house until they were taken by KLA members at around 9 p.m.

The Yugoslav Army refused to allow the families to identify the bodies or to release the autopsy reports. They were only shown photographs from which they were unable to make positive identifications.
Source: HLC, witness statements

Ristić, Momčilo (M, 44), Serb, from Gornj Livoč (Livoq i Epërme), Gnjilane Municipality, worked in design bureau of Binačka Morava company; his father-in-law Ivanović, Velizar (60), Serb, from Pasjane, Gnjilane Municipality – abducted on 8 June 1999 on the road between Pasjane and Gornji Livoč, Gnjilane Municipality.

Neighbors of the two missing men stated that KLA members warned Ristić that he would be killed and his house burned down unless he left Gornji Livoč. At 8.30 a.m. on 8 June, Ristić and Ivanović drove to Pasjane (red Zastava 750 car) to take some belongings from Ristić’s house to his daughter’s apartment in Pasjane. They were stopped on the road by KLA members and taken away.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Ristić, Dragan (M, 36), Serb, from Gornje Kusce (Kuske e Epërme), Gnjilane Municipality, resided in Gnjilane (72a Radeta Petrovića St.), electrical engineer, employed at Industrija Baterija Gnjilane – abducted on 22 June 1999. Also on 22 June, the KLA abducted S.S., his son S.R. and brother S.R., Roma from Gnjilane, and released them later that day. They were the last persons to see Ristić.

Ristić’s brother stated that Ristić was alone in his Gnjilane apartment as his wife and daughter had fled to Serbia in mid-June. Ristić last spoke with his mother at 9.50 a.m. on 22 June when he told her someone had telephoned to say he was wanted at the factory, located about 400 meters from his home. Half an hour later, Mrs Ristić called again but there was no answer. She then called her son’s co-worker Vlado and asked if he knew Ristić’s whereabouts. Vlada learned at the factory that Ristić had been there about 10 a.m. but three KLA members, from Ugljari (Uglare), Zubin Potok Municipality, Makeš and Mališevo respectively, had barred his entry.

The next day Vlado went to the factory to ask about Ristić. KLA members there told him that Ristić had been taken in for questioning and would be released soon.

The family subsequently heard more about Ristić’s abduction from three Gnjilane Roma (S.S., his son R.S. and brother R.S.) who were detained by the KLA in the factory porter’s booth just before Ristić’s arrival. As Ristić tried to enter, four or five armed and uniformed KLA men stopped him. When he turned to go, one KLA man asked his name. When Ristić gave his name, the man looked at a list he was holding and the other KLA men ran after Ristić, tied his hands and led him into the booth. The KLA men then beat up the three Roma and let them go but retained Ristić.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Vitković, Borivoje (M); his wife Vitković, Slavica, Serbs, from Gnjilane – abducted by unidentified persons in central Gnjilane between 20 and 23 June 1999.
Source: Državljani Albanije stižu u Prištinu [Albanian Nationals Arriving in Priština], BLIC, 24 June 1999; Peace and Tolerance Center in Priština, BLIC, 5 July 1999

Metodijević, Miroslav (M, 24), Serb, from Gnjilane (Vojvode Stepe St.), police officer in Priština – abducted on 25 June 1999; last seen by S.D., a Serb who was abducted on the same day and imprisoned at the KLA headquarters in the school dormitory in Gnjilane. S.D. was released the next day.

Mr Metodijević told the HLC his son Miroslav was helping a friend to move goods from his store in Borisa Kidriča St. to his home that day about 1. 30 p.m. The friend left with a load while Metodijević stayed in the store together with the Albanian shop assistant and her two brothers. Four armed Albanians in black uniforms came in and said they were KLA police. At gunpoint, they led Metodijević out of the store, pushed him into a red WV Golf without license plates and drove to the school dormitory in the Gavran neighborhood in which the KLA headquarters were located.

S.D., who had been abducted earlier that day, was in the building at the time. He was questioned and beaten, and released the next morning. He told Mr Metodijević that he saw his son and that he remained imprisoned in the building after his own release.

On 3 February 2000, the International Red Cross notified the family that Metodijević was in a hospital in Skopje, Macedonia. Mr Metodijević immediately traveled to Skopje but established that it was a case of mistaken identity. The whereabouts of his son remain unknown.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Radović, Predrag (M); Ilić, Živojin (M); Ilić, Jugoslav (M), Serbs, from Žegra, Gnjilane Municipality – abducted by the KLA on 27 June 1999.¹³
Source: HLC, witness statement

¹³  Witness statement on the abduction of Radović and the Ilićs: Gnjilane, 2.2.1. Released by the KLA.
 

Dajić, Radovan (M, 26), police officer; Jovanović, Goran (M, 21), police reservist; Mitrović, Miodrag (M, 20), student; Vasić, Ljubiša (M, 31), Serbs from Vrbovac, Vitina Municipality – abducted by the KLA on 30 June 1999 at Dobrčane, Gnjilane Municipality.

Mitrović’s brother-in-law stated that a neighbor from Vrbovac, who was passing through Dobrčane village at the time of the abduction, recognized one of the KLA men as the son of Dr. Fitije from Vitina.¹⁴
Source: HLC, witness statement

¹⁴  Witness statement on the abduction of Dajić, Jovanović, Mitrović and Vasić: Gnjilane, 2.2.1. Released by the KLA.
 

Žulji, Džema (Zhuli Xhemë) (M, 43), Rom, from Gnjilane (Vojvode Stepe St.), police officer – abducted in late June 1999.

Džema’s neighbor recounted that several KLA members, one of whom a former police officer and colleague of Džema, came to the Džema apartment. In the presence of Džema’s wife and daughter, this man said he was carrying out a routine check, that Džema had to come to the KLA headquarters for questioning, and led him away.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stojković, Vlastimir (M), Serb, from Gnjilane – abducted from his store on 1 July 1999.
Source: List of Serbs Kidnapped in Kosovo and Metohija (July-August), KOSOVO.COM

Ristić, Slavoljub “Cacko” (M, 35), Serb, from Gnjilane (43 Ivo Lola Ribar St.), driver with OSCE – abducted on 5 July 1999 in Gnjilane.

Ristić left home at 9 a.m. on 5 July in his blue Mini Morris (Vranje, Serbia, license plates) with his friend Predrag Stefanović to inquire at the Town Hall if KFOR or some other organization needed a driver. On the way back, they noticed a dark-grey Opel Omega with Novi Pazar (Serbia) license plates with two men inside following them. When they turned into Bore Vukmirovića St., they saw that the roadway was blocked by a truck and a Lada automobile. They stopped and the two men in the car behind them got out, trained their weapons on Ristić and Stefanović, and in Albanian ordered Ristić to get out and told Stefanović to park the car. As Stefanović did so, the men pushed Ristić into their car and drove him away.

The Ristić family immediately reported the abduction to KFOR and the International Red Cross. Predrag Stefanović fled Kosovo to Serbia after the incident.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Jećimović, Dragan (M, 37), Serb, from Šilovo, Gnjilane Municipality; T.M. (M), Serb, from Gnjilane – detained on 9 July 1999 and shortly released. Twenty minutes later, Jećimović disappeared.

The Jećimović family related that Jećimović and T.M. went to the house of Slobodan Maksimović at 2.45 p.m. on 9 July to help Maksimović pack and move. As Jećimović and T.M. were loading belongings into Jećimović’s Ford automobile, Beksat Baša (Bekzat Basha), and another three armed Albanians in civilian clothes approached them and ordered them to get into the car. They drove to the boarding school where the Albanians questioned and slapped them for about 15 minutes and then allowed them to go. Baša promised to bring Jećimović’s car to the department store in 15 minutes. Jećimović and T.M. waited there for some time and, as Baša did not turn up, Jećimović went back to the boarding school. He was not seen again.

Jećimović’s parents reported his disappearance to KFOR the same day. They asked KFOR members to take them to the boarding school to see whether their son was imprisoned there but were turned down on the excuse that the building was empty.

Ten days after Jećimović’s disappearance, his father saw their Ford automobile parked in the yard of Baša’s house (24, Novobrodska (Novobërdës) St.)).
Source: HLC, witness statement

Jović, Mirko (M, 41), Serb, from Gnjilane (Bojanina St, Komnik development 2/2), engineer, employee of Gnjilane water supply company; Č.S. (F) and S.Z. (F), Serbs from Gnjilane – abducted by the KLA on 12 July 1999 in Bojanina St. in Gnjilane and taken to the boarding school; Č.S. and S.Z. were released 20 minutes later; Jović was retained.

Mrs. Jović related that her husband and the two women were stopped by three Albanians at the entrance to their building about 6 p.m. on 12 July. Two of the Albanians – Adnan and Sulja Adem (Sula Adem) - lived in the same building. All three were wearing black jeans and shirts and were carrying Zastava pistols. Speaking Serbian, they ordered Jović and the women to go with them to be questioned and drove them to the boarding school. At the entrance, a KLA guard told the Albanians that the commander was absent, that Jović should be held and the women released. Jović was led inside. The guard pointed his gun at the women, threatened to kill them, verbally abused them and let them go some 20 minutes later.

Mrs. Jović later found in the pocket of her husband’s trousers a note reading: “If something happens to me, turn to Adem and Aznan from our building and Ćaza (Qaza) from the nearby private house.”
Source: HLC, witness statement

Djokić, Čedomir (M, 51), Serb, from Gnjilane (Kneza Lazara St.) – abducted by unidentified armed Albanians in mid-July 1999.

Djokić’s sister recounted that two armed Albanians in civilian clothes stormed into Djokić’s apartment two days before his abduction. They demanded that Djokić hand over his weapons and beat him. They did not maltreat his wife. They left after searching the apartment and failing to find any weapons. Two days later, the same Albanians came and took Djokić away with them. His wife was not at home at the time. She immediately reported her husband’s disappearance to KFOR.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stojanović, Dragan (M); Stojanović, Momčilo (M), Serbs, from Gornji Makreš, Gnjilane Municipality – last seen on 29 July 1999.

The Blic newspaper reported that the Stojanovićs were abducted from their home by their Albanian neighbors Ramiz and Rasim.
Source: Rafali na Srbe u Gnjilanu [Fire Opened at Serbs in Gnjilane], BLIC (FoNet), 31 July 1999

Lazić, Sreten (M, 46), Serb, from Gnjilane (7 Stojadina Trlajića St.), employee of Gnjilane cigarette factory; Arsić, Dragan (M, 37), Serb, from Gnjilane (9 Ivo Lola Ribar St.), employee of textile factory); Saliku, Seljomi (Selami Salihu) (M), Albanian, from Gnjilane, employed as driver with 16 Novembar company – abducted on 3 August 1999. Seljomi was beaten up and released.

Ilinka Cvetković, hardware store proprietor in Gnjilane and eyewitness of the abduction, described to the HLC what happened:
“Fadilj Gaši (Fadil, Gashi), the new manager of the 16 Novembar company from which I leased my premises, told me in mid-July that I had to apply for an extension of the lease. I refused and in the morning of 3 August he called to tell me I was to vacate the premises so that the new leaseholder could move in. I told him I was scared to be in the store alone and he promised to send a driver with the company truck and a few workers to help me move my stuff out. Half an hour later, the truck driven by Seljomi Saliku, two Albanian workmen - Hevzi Jerljiu (Hevzi Jerliu) and one whose name I don’t know - and Djumra (Gjurma), a Roma man, were in front of the store. I packed inside with my relative Miroslava and friend Živka. At about 11 a.m., Živka called two Serb neighbors of hers, Sreten Lazić and Dragan Arsić, to help us pack. They arrived very soon.

“Miroslava, Živka, Hevzija and I did the packing while Sreten, Dragan and the company workers loaded the things on the truck. When we finished about 11.30, Sreten, Dragan and the driver Saliku left to drive the things to my house, which is about 15 minutes by car from the store. When I called my husband at home to ask if they had started unloading, he told me the truck hadn’t arrived yet. So I started out on foot to see where they were. I met Alija, an Albanian neighbor who also worked at 16 Novembar and told him what had happened. He called the company at once and the porter told him the truck had just pulled into the company yard. I asked where the men were and Alija said he would go to the company to see. He didn’t contact me again and avoids talking to me. I went back to the store and asked Hevzija who was still there with Miroslava and Živka to try and find out what happened. When he didn’t come back either, I reported the case to KFOR and suggested that they go to the 16 Novembar company and check out whether Sreten and Dragan were there. The KFOR soldiers refused and gave me a number to call and ask for an escort. When I repeated that two Serbs were missing, I realized by their reaction that the interpreter, an Albanian woman, hadn’t translated anything of what I had said.

“Later on, about 2 p.m., Fadilj called, apologized for the misunderstanding, said my property was safe and that he would bring it around the next morning at 9 o’clock. When I said I only wanted to know what had happened to Dragan and Sreten who were in the truck, he said they had gone home. I checked and found out that they had not come home, and called Fadilj to tell him so. He apologized again and said he would find out where they were. At 3 o’clock, he called back and said again he had been told that they had gone home. An hour later, Saliku the truck driver called and said the three of them were stopped on the way to my house by some masked men, that Sreten and Dragan were let go, that he had his eyes blindfolded and was taken to the quarry at Glomi. They held him there for a while, questioned him and then released him. He said he didn’t know what had happened to my property. I started shouting at him, said I knew the truck was at the company, and that he was responsible for Sreten and Dragan’s kidnapping. He said he didn’t know what I was talking about and hung up. He never called again.”

On 8 August, five days after the abduction, a U.S. police officer with UNMIK took another statement on the incident from Mrs. Cvetković. On 11 August, the UNMIK police took Fadilj Gasi and Saliku Seljomi into custody. Mrs Cvetković heard that they were detained for a month at the Bonsteel base. She was summoned to make a statement to the investigating judge in Sojevo, Uroševac (Ferizaj) Municipality. Mrs. Cvetković does not know whether or not any proceedings were instituted in connection with the abduction.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Antić, Slobodan (M, 57), Serb, from Gornje Kusce, Gnjilane Municipality; Stevanović, Zoran (M, 35), from Gnjilane, both employees of the Gnjilane water supply company – abducted on 24 August 1999 just outside Prilepnica, Gnjilane Municipality.

A friend of the two men told the HLC that Ramadan Gajtani, manager of the water supply company, on 24 August sent Antić and Stevanović with a company car and driver to inspect the water-filtering system at the reservoir in Prilepnica. At Bunarče, just before the turnoff to Prilepnica (Perlepnice), the car was stopped by four or five KLA members who dragged the Albanian driver Jakupi out of the car, beat him up and left him on the roadside. Antić and Stevanović were driven away in the car.
Source: HLC, witness statement

2.1. Killed

Antić, Vlajko (M); his sons Antić, Milisav (28); Antić, Svetislav (31) and Antić, Radovan (22), Serbs, from Požaranje (Pozharan), Gnjilane Municipality – abducted from their home on 18 June 1999 by unidentified men.

Friends of the family recounted that the abductors killed Vlajko Antić before taking away his three sons. Their bodies were found a few days later in Ljubište (Lubishte), Vitina Municipality.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Denić, Čedomir (M, 39); Dimić Momčilo (M, 32), Serbs, from Poneš, Gnjilane Municipality – abducted and killed by KLA on 19 June 1999.¹⁵
Source: HLC, witness statement

¹⁵  Witness statement on the abduction of Denić and Dimić: Gnjilane, 2.2.1. Released by the KLA.
 

Marković, Slobodan (M, 35); Pekić, Stojan (M, 50); Trajković Slobodan (M, 50), Serbs, from Vitina – last seen on 4 July 1999 at Gornji Livoč, Gnjilane Municipality, riding on a tractor on the Gnjilane-Vitina road. Three bodies found by KFOR in Ugljari village, Zubin Potok Municipality on 11 September 1999 were positively identified by the families as Marković, Pekić and Trajković.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stević, Slobodan (M), Serb, from Dobrčane, Gnjilane Municipality – abducted while driving his tractor through the village on 4 July 1999. A body bearing traces of violence found by KFOR in November was positively identified as Stević by his family.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Perić, Milorad (or Dobrivoje) (M), Serb – abducted by Kosovo Albanians on 27 July 1999 in Gnjilane. Perić was physically abused and left in the street where he was found by a KFOR patrol. He was airlifted to hospital and died of his injuries.
Source: Kosovo Serb Dies After Kidnapping, KOSOVO DAILY NEWS, 29 July 1999

Nikolić, Čedomir (M, 59), Serb, from Koretište, Gnjilane Municipality, secretary of local elementary school – abducted on 1 November 1999 on the Gnjilane-Bujanovac road near Dobrčan village. His body was found by KFOR the next day.
Eyewitness related that Nikolić was forced to stop his car when a group of KLA men shot out the tires. With him were his wife, neighbor Borislav Stević and some friends. The KLA men stabbed Stević four times in the chest and shoulder. Nikolić was dragged out of the car and led to a nearby stream. He was killed one hour after being abducted. His body, with throat slashed, a gunshot wound in the head, and several knife stabs was found by KFOR at 2.30 p.m. on 2 November, lying about 500 meters from the place where his car was stopped.
Source: HLC, witness statement

2.2. Free

2.2.1. Released by the KLA

M.M. (M, 52), Rom, from Gnjilane (27a Momčila Trumbića St.) – abducted on 16 June 1999 and released after four hours of questioning at the KLA headquarters in the former Yugoslav Army Cultural Center.

M.M. related that his neighbor Idriz, a KLA member, came to his house at 1.30 p.m. on 16 June, accompanied by some 20 Albanians in uniform. He ordered M.M. to go with them to the KLA headquarters in the building of the former Yugoslav Army Cultural Center.

He described the questioning and beating he was subjected to:
“They demanded that I hand over my weapons to them. When I said I had turned in my pistol to the Yugoslav Army, several KLA soldiers started beating me. They punched and kicked me, beat me with clubs, whatever they had at hand, for about four hours. I recognized none of the soldiers. In the end, they threw me out of the building and gave me until the next day to leave Kosovo.”

M.M. fled to Serbia and spent 10 days in hospital for treatment of the injuries he sustained at the KLA headquarters.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Jovanović,Tihomir, Serb (M) , from Gnjilane – abducted on 9 June 1999 in the town center and released the same day.

Jovanović was abducted by unidentified men, taken to the Čenar Česma (Qeshmja e Çenanit) neighborhood, beaten and released later that day.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

S.M. (M, 46); T.J. (M, 30), his nephew T.D. (13); V.B. (18), Serbs, from Poneš, Gnjilane Municipality – abducted by three uniformed KLA members on 19 June 1999, beaten for several hours and released. On this occasion, the KLA men killed Denić, Čedomir (39) and Dimić, Momčilo (32), Serbs from the same village.

S.M. described the incident to the HLC:
“At 9 a.m. that day, T.J., T.D., V.B., Čedomir, Momčilo and I took our animals to pasture at Lazovac Meadows near our village. Three KLA soldiers, in uniforms and masked faces, came out of the nearby woods. They trained their guns on us and ordered us to go over the hill to the next woods. Momčilo refused and started arguing with them. One of the soldiers fired a burst into the air as a warning. When Momčilo still refused to go, the soldier shot him dead. Two of the soldiers led us along a path through the woods towards Rudace village, Gnjilane Municipality. Some 200 meters farther on, at a meadow called Preštip (Preshtip), the third soldier, the one who killed Momčilo, caught up with us. He took Čedomir out of the line, started arguing with him and then we heard a shot. This soldier caught up again with us at the graveyard just outside Rudace, separated out T.D., pointed to a path through the woods and told him to run home. At first T.D. refused, wanting to stay with his uncle, but when the soldier threatened to kill him he went. At the entrance to Rudace, two kilometers farther on, the three soldiers ordered us to sit down beside the road.
“They took their masks off and started questioning us. The soldier who killed Momčilo and Čedomir was Ibrahim Spahiju from Kišno Polje (Kishnapole), Gnjilane Municipality. I recognized the second one too – Sadik from Žegovac (Zhegofc), Gnjilane Municipality. I didn’t know the third one. They asked if we had weapons and what kind, who else in the village had weapons and where they were hidden, who of the villagers had been in the Army and who in the police. They asked these questions about every single Serb in the village. They kept saying they would kill us and that we could choose how we wanted to die. They asked where our police and Army were now. They cursed our Serb mothers. They kept kicking and punching us as they asked their questions, but mostly hit us with their rifles. After an hour and a half, Ibrahim suggested to Sadik that they shoot us. Sadik replied he didn’t want to do that because he and I had done our military service together in Sombor 25 years ago. He told us we could go and threatened to kill us if he caught us pasturing our animals in the meadows around the village.”

S.M., T.J. and V.B. returned to their village and reported the incident to KFOR. KFOR members found the bodies of Momčilo Dimić and Čedomir Denić in a woods between Poneš and Rudace villages.
Source: HLC, witness statement

J.V. (M, 38), Serb, from Gnjilane (Vojvode Stepe St.), director of Beobanka branch in Gnjilane – detained in the bank building on 20 June 1999.

J.V.’s neighbor told the HLC that J.V. went to the bank that today to try to save the computers and other equipment there. Three Albanians in civilian clothes followed him into the building and began to question and beat him. After a time, they led him out, forced him into a red Yugo car and drove him to his apartment to get his gun. Watching through the window, the neighbor recognized the driver as an Albanian from Donji Livoč (Livoq i Poshtem), Gnjilane Municipality and described him as about 190 cm. tall, aged about 40 and with brown hair going gray. The attackers left when J.V. handed over his rifle.
Source: HLC, witness statement

S.S.; his son S.R.; and brother S.R., Roma from Gnjilane, detained by the KLA on 22 June 1999 and released several hours later.¹⁶
Source: HLC, witness statement

¹⁶  Witness statement on the abduction and release of S.S., S.R., and S.R.: Gnjilane, 2. Abducted.
 

A.S., Serb, from Gnjilane (22 Abaz Ajeti St.) – abducted by the KLA on 23 June 1999 in the presence of his mother, wife, sister and daughter, beaten and released the next day.

A.S. recounted that four KLA members broke into his house forty minutes after midnight on 23 June while another four stood guard at the gate. He recognized three of the four KLA men: the son of an blacksmith from Gnjilane known as “Bilder,” the son of Sabit, an auto mechanic from Radivojce, Vitina Municipality whose name he did not know, a man known as “Guzila” from Gnjilane. He described the fourth Albanian as being about 25 years of age and with dark hair and a beard.

A.S. described what happened:
“As soon as they barged in, they looked for the phone and yanked the cord from the wall. Then they searched for weapons. I had a hunting rifle, an M48, under my bed. They searched for about 15 minutes. One put a knife to my wife’s throat and they pushed us all around. Their behavior was kind of hysterical, wild. They ransacked the house and kept yelling. They found the gun under the bed. Then they led me out and fired a shot into the air in front of the house as a signal, I guess, that they had finished at our place. They put me in their car, a yellow Lada. Two sat in front and two with me in the backseat. One held a Heckler and the other a knife to my back. They drove me to the school dormitory in the Gavran neighborhood in Gnjilane. KLA guards were posted outside the dorm. They handcuffed me and took me up to a first-floor room in which there was a bed, a table and a chair. They ordered me to sit down in the chair. That’s where they questioned me. It seemed like all of them questioned me but their commander was really in charge. We spoke Albanian. He asked why I had stayed in Gnjilane and said I had to move out by tomorrow morning and leave the keys of the house in the front door. Then they began beating me. I don’t know how many of them beat me. Most of them had black masks over their faces. One of the masked ones who beat me told me he was my neighbor. They hit me with metal bars, chains, and nightsticks. About an hour later, they took me out of the room and down into another one on the ground floor, which was exactly the same as the one upstairs.
“Before they took me into this room, they dragged out an Albanian who had been badly beaten and was barely conscious. In the room I heard noises – blows and screams – from the basement. They put me in one chair and pulled my feet through the rungs of another and started beating me. One beat me on the soles of the feet with a metal bar and another one beat me on the chest. They put their pistols to my temple and cocked them. They stubbed out their cigarettes on my arms and back. Then they shoved me down on the floor and kicked me. When I blacked out they threw a bucket of water over me and started over again. They said they would take me to Drenica and carve the Albanian eagle into my chest and forehead. They said they weren’t hitting me on the head because they wanted me to remember who had beaten me. At dawn, about 5 a.m., they led me out of the building and left me at the nearby sports field. I was down on the pavement. One took out his pistol, put it to my head and pulled the trigger. I though I was a dead man but the gun wasn’t loaded. Then they went away. Somehow I dragged myself home, my family saw me in the yard and carried me into the house.”

A.S. was taken by his family to the hospital and given first aid. The next day, unidentified persons robbed and torched their house. They spent two days with relatives and fled Kosovo to Serbia
Source: HLC, witness statement

Witness wished to remain anonymous¹⁷  (M, 33), Serb, from Gnjilane – abducted by the KLA from a grill room, questioned and beaten for four hours, released at the intervention of a KLA colonel.

¹⁷  Identity known to the HLC.

The witness described the incident to the HLC:

“I went out at 8.30 a.m. that day to buy some food at a grill room. An Albanian acquaintance was there and left without a word as soon as I came in. He came back five minutes later and in front of everybody pointed a pistol at me and ordered me down into the basement. When I offered him money, he slapped me twice and told me to shut up if I didn’t want to be killed there and then. Five minutes later, he led me to a white WV Golf parked outside the grillroom. Two Albanians were in the car. They drove me to the boarding school and when I asked again why they were doing this to me, they replied I would find out at their headquarters. They took me to the second floor in the left wing of the building and to the last room on the right.

“There were 11 Albanians in the room, some of whom I had seen about town before. All were in uniforms, either camouflage or black, and with KLA badges. One, of very large build and no older than 20, hit me twice on the head with a nightstick. Then another one hit me on the back with a baseball bat and floored me. They kept hitting me with nightsticks, baseball bats and punching me for almost four hours. They made me take off my shoes and socks and beat me on the soles of my feet. They put their pistols in my mouth and knives on my neck and chin, asking if I was afraid to die and threatening to kill me. They made me say in Albanian that Slobodan Milošević was a moron and an idiot. They asked if I would put on a KLA uniform and go to the nearby Serb village of Šilovo. They asked about some policemen from Gnjilane and the names of volunteers. I said I didn’t know any of them because I worked during the war and was never in the Army or the police. Most of the questioning was by a soldier the others called “Captain” but he didn’t have any marks of rank on his uniform. About four hours later, they said I had to go down to the basement to repeat my statement about the police and volunteers. At that point, a man in uniform they called “Colonel” came into the room. I knew him by sight. He was very surprised to see me and asked who had brought me in. My Albanian acquaintance said he had. The man asked who had given the order and my acquaintance replied that a colonel whose name I didn’t catch had told him to bring in any Serbs he found. The colonel told me to put on my socks and shoes and go with him. I could barely walk from the beating and two soldiers held me up. When we were out of the room, the colonel asked me quietly if I had any weapons. I said I had a semi-automatic rifle and he said it would be best for me and the safety of my family to hand it in. We agreed that I would bring him the gun. I handed it to two KLA men from the colonel’s party half an hour later, outside the boarding school.”
The witness returned home and shortly afterwards fled to Serbia where he was treated for the next six months for the injuries inflicted on him by the KLA.
Source: HLC, witness statement

S.D. (M), Serb, from Gnjilane – detained and held at the KLA headquarters in the boarding school in Gnjilane. He was released the next day.¹⁸
Source: HLC, witness statement

¹⁸  Witness statement on the detention and release of S.D.: Gnjilane, 2. Abducted.
 

Vasić, Dragan (M, 40), Serb, from Gnjilane (Mladena Popovića St.), abducted on 26 June 1999 and released.

Vasić’s abductors took him from his neighbor’s yard. He was held for some time at an unknown location and released after being questioned and beaten.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

V.R. (M, 64), Montenegrin, from Vrbovac, Gnjilane Municipality – abducted by the KLA from his home on 27 June 1999, held in a private house in Mališevo, Gornja Mahala (mahalla e Epërme) neighborhood, Gnjilane Township. He was questioned and beaten and released in the evening. That same day, the KLA abducted his Serb neighbors Predrag Radović, and Živojin and Jugoslav Ilić. V.R. last saw them in Žegra (Zhegër) village, Gnjilane Municipality.
V.R. described to the HLC what happened:

“Three KFOR members accompanied by an Albanian interpreter were collecting weapons from the villagers around noon that day. My Albanian neighbor Muslija Surdulji (Muslli Surduli) sent them to my house for my guns. I handed over an M48 rifle and when I also gave them two hunting guns for which I had permits, they refused to take them. When they left, Muslija came over and said it would be better for me if I had turned in all my guns because the KLA would give me a hard time if they found any weapons in my house. Later on, at about 2 o’clock, a Serb neighbor, Predrag Radović, called to me from my gate. When I got to the gate, I saw that Predrag was scared and that Muslija with four Albanians in civilian clothes, from 20 to 25 years old and armed with pistols and rifles, were also there. They said they were KLA members. One of them, a very tall young man, hit me on the head and in the kidney area with his rifle. He ordered Predrag and me to go with him to the house of Muhamed Zuzaku. KLA men were holding two Serbs, Živojin and Jugoslav Ilić, in front of Zuzaki house. Muslija had left in the meantime. When the KLA men began insulting and swearing at me, my Albanian neighbors tried to protect me, saying I had stopped the Serbian forces from looting and burning their homes. The KLA men paid no attention. They demanded my weapons and took me back home and I handed over three hunting rifles, a hunting carbine, an M48 rifle, a TT762 pistol, a CZ 765 pistol and an automatic rifle.

“They took the weapons and started beating me. They hit me only on the left side, probably having heard that my right lung and ribs had been surgically removed. About ten minutes later, they took me back to Muhamed’s house where two KLA men were beating Predrag, Živojin and Jugoslav. After some time, they put us on a trailer attached to the tractor of Surdulja, the younger brother of Muslija, who drove us to Žedan (Zhedan), a neighborhood on the outskirts of Mališevo. Then they took me to a small red car in which there were four Albanians, while Predrag, Živojin and Jugoslav stayed in the trailer. I got in the back seat and one of the Albanians immediately pulled a black bag over my head. One of them got out in Gornja Mahala and they ordered me to lie down on the backseat, and drove on. We stopped about five minutes later. They took me into a house and to an upstairs room. They took the bag off my head and covered the windows with pieces of foam rubber. But I knew where I was because I had done a lot of electrical work in that neighborhood. I know that there are two houses that stick out from the rest about 200 or 300 meters from Gornja Mahala and that they belong to the brothers Bajram and Sali Grabovci (Sali Grabovci). I was in one of them. A young man in a camouflage uniform with KLA insignia was in the room with me. A bit later, two KLA men in black uniforms came in. One was dark and of heavy build and weighed about 95 kilos. The other one, who was tall and weighed about 80 kilos, told me he was from Kijevo. He ordered me to hold out my hands and began hitting me on them. Then he punched me in the chest with a nightstick. I lost my breath and fell to the floor. The two of them went out. An hour later, an Albanian in civilian clothes came in to question me. He spoke Albanian, saying he wanted to see if I understood. I didn’t understand much but I know he wanted to know my particulars, what I did for a living, where I was and what I did during the war and if I knew which Žegra villagers had died. He didn’t beat me. The KLA policeman from Kijevo came in again and once more ordered me to hold out my hands and hit me on them. Then they offered me a cigarette. They asked why I had so many guns and if they were for killing Albanians. I explained that I was Montenegrin and collecting guns was my hobby, like my father’s before me, and that I never used them or killed anybody in my life. One of them asked why I hadn’t said I was a Montenegrin before, adding that Milo Djukanović [Montenegrin president] had done a lot for them. They offered me tea and I drank two glasses. They put the black bag over my head again, took me out of the house and put me in a car. When we got to the Žegra graveyard, they off the bag and asked if I knew where I was. It was already dark. My shirt was bloodstained so they gave me a brand new white shirt, still in its wrappings, and said I was free to go.
“When I reached my village, the neighbors said they were very sorry they weren’t able to prevent the KLA from looting my house. I said it didn’t matter, that the important thing was that I was alive. I went in. Ten minutes later I heard the dog barking and through the window saw the dark shapes of men coming up the road. I hid in the pigpen. The men went into my house and called my name. A little afterwards I saw huge flames. My house was on fire.”
The witness spent the night in the pigpen and left the village on foot in the morning.
Source: HLC, witness statement

D.J. (M, 38), Serb, employee of municipal water supply company, Yugoslav Army reservist; his brother D.M. (36), police officer; T.S. (M, 36), Serb, shop assistant, police reservist, all from Gnjilane – abducted on 29 June 1999 and released the next day.

The three men had hired an Albanian trucker from Gnjilane to take them and their belongings to Serbia. At 10 a.m. on 29 June, they were stopped in Dobrčan village, Gnjilane Municipality, by a group of armed Albanians wearing black clothes with KLA insignia. The three Serbs were ordered to step down from the truck and taken to a woods near the road; the Albanian trucker was held beside his vehicle.

D.J. described what happened next:
“Once we were in the woods they searched us, took our ID cards and checked if our names were on some lists they had. I saw the photographs of some Serbs I knew attached to those lists. They didn’t find our names on the lists and just noted down our particulars. They asked if we had been in the Serbian forces. D.M. and I said we hadn’t but T.S. admitted he had been a police reservist. They tied our hands, using shoelaces on me and D.M. and rubber handcuffs on T.S. They began kicking and punching us, demanded that we confess how many Albanians we had killed and if we had weapons. Then they put us in a dark blue Zastava 101 car and drove us to the KLA headquarters in the schoolhouse in Ugljare village.

“They led us into the room of the commander, who was wearing a black uniform. He too asked if we had been in the Serbian forces and we continued to deny it. But when a large group of uniformed KLA members came in, one of them recognized my brother because, as a police officer, he had earlier arrested this man for smuggling. The KLA men who had brought us there from Dobrčani started defending us from being lynched by these Albanians. My brother kept his wits about him and calmly claimed it wasn’t true he had been a policeman. They believed him and locked us in the cellar.

“The next day, 30 July, they drove us in a Lada Niva to what used to be the Yugoslav Army building and in which the Gnjilane headquarters of the KLA was located. They questioned us again but, since we were now in Gnjilane where a lot of people knew my brother had been a police officer, he had to admit it. They went out to discuss what to do with us. I think the KLA were scared because KFOR had stepped up patrolling of Gnjilane after the discovery of the mass grave in Ugljare. At about 5 p.m., they dumped us outside the former police station. KFOR members gave us first aid, took down our particulars and asked if we had any weapons. They drove us to the house of our relative where T.S. handed over the weapons we had.”

All three men fled Kosovo to Serbia after this incident.
Source: HLC, witness statement

K.M. (M, 48); V.S. (M); K.D. (M), Serbs, from Vrbovac, Vitina Municipality; B. (last name unknown) (M), Serbian Serb, trucker - stopped on 30 June 1999 by a large group of KLA members near Dobrčane, Gnjilane Municipality, questioned, beaten and subsequently released. Dajić, Radovan (M, 26), police officer; Jovanović, Goran (M, 21), police reservist; Mitrović, Miodrag (M, 20), student; Vasić, Ljubiša (M, 31), all Serbs, from Vrbovac, Vitina Municipality, were travelling in the same convoy as the above in a red Yugo car. They too were stopped by the same KLA group, questioned, beaten and taken away, after which all trace of them was lost. A.B. (M, 33); K.S. (M, 39); K.M. and his wife and two children, also in the convoy, were able to escape.

K.M. recounted that the Serbs left Vrbovac together at 5.30 a.m. on 30 June. He described to the HLC what happened:
“We reached Dobrčane about half past six. The road at the entrance to the village, next to the first house, was blocked with three big slabs of concrete. Six men were standing beside the barricade, three in KLA camouflage uniforms and the other three in civvies. All were about 25. I saw that the road behind the barricade, in the village center, was completely blocked: two trucks and metal obstacles in the right lane, and bags of sand reinforced with metal barricades in the left. Some 30 men in black clothes were standing there. One had a black mask over his face. The KLA soldier at the first roadblock signaled to us to stop.
“A KLA man dragged A.B. out of the car in which he was travelling with K.S. and K.M. and tried to haul him over to the left side of the road. At that moment, K.S. stepped hard on the gas and A.B. got away from the Albanian and threw himself into the attached trailer. They bypassed both barricades by getting off the road and driving around them. The Albanians opened fire at them but they managed to get away.

“Two KLA soldiers then got Radovan, Goran, Miodrag and Ljubiša out of their car and led them to the left side of the road. Another man, in civvies, fattish, with brown hair and a dark complexion, ordered one of the two soldiers to drive the car away. Two soldiers got V.S., K.D., B. and me off the truck, searched us, took our papers and money. They tied our hands with plastic handcuffs and took us to the left side of the road where I saw five or six KLA men kicking Radovan, Goran, Miodrag and Ljubiša who were down on the ground. Their IDs were scattered around them. When the fattish Albanian ordered us to sit down on the ground, two or three soldiers started kicking V.S. in the head, back and stomach. Then another soldier began hitting me with a nightstick and kicking me in the head. They beat us for about 30 minutes. They asked no questions, just said we had done the same thing to their brothers and sisters. As they beat us, I noticed several KLA soldiers push and kick Radovan, Goran, Miodrag and Ljubiša into the first side street on the left. Later on I saw there were five or six houses in the street and a stream at its end. When they stopped beating us, I saw a semi-trailer with Vranje (Serbia) plates and a Yugo passenger car at the first roadblock. The KLA stopped the semi-trailer but let the Yugo through after first taking a child’s bike off the roof rack. Then they told us to get up and go toward our truck. A soldier cut the plastic cuffs on our hand with a knife and let us climb in. From the truck I saw the soldiers moving the roadblock a little and signaling to us to be on our way.”
Source: HLC, witness statement

M.A. (M, 51), Rom, from Gnjilane (266 Abdula Preševa (Abdyl Presheva) St.)) – abducted in June 1999, held for several hours and released.
M.A. related to the HLC that an Albanian by the name of Adem accosted him in a Gnjilane pastry shop and threatened to kill him unless he accompanied him to the school dormitory. M.A. was questioned there by an Albanian acquaintance from Gnjilane, Avdija, also known as “Goldsmith.”

“Avdija asked me to name who in Gnjilane was in the Yugoslav Army and in the paramilitary groups. I said he ought to put that question to the Yugoslav government. He wasn’t pleased with the answer and punched me in the head. Adem’s sons, who were there at the headquarters, ran up and started hitting me with nightsticks and iron bars. They ordered me to keep count of the blows. They beat me for about two hours, demanding answers I didn’t have. I blacked out and, when I came to, found myself in my yard. My wife said they threw me down in the yard like I was a dog and left. They said we were to pack up and leave the house.”

M.A. and his family fled Kosovo to Serbia.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stanković, Djordje (M, 80), Serb, from Gnjilane (1 Ganeta Jovanovića St.) – adducted in late June 1999 in Gnjilane.

Stanković was abducted and held for several days by unidentified persons before being released.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

Cvetković, Dragan (M, 27), Serb, from Kmetovce (Kmetofc), Gnjilane Municipality – abducted in early July 1999.

Cvetković’s friends recounted that he was taken by KLA members from the neighboring village. His Serb neighbors retaliated by abducting three Albanians from their village who knew the abductors, and told their families they would be released when the KLA let Cvetković go. He was set free the next day, and his neighbors released the Albanians they were holding. The witnesses stated that another three Serbs, Jordanović, Djordje; Filipović, Zvonko and Stojanović, Zvonko, were taken by the KLA in July and released either the same or the next day.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Todorović, Predrag (M), Serb, from Gnjilane – abducted on 2 July 1999 and released when he handed over the weapons he had in his home.

Todorović was stopped by men in uniform on the road from Gnjilane to Dobrčane village who demanded that he hand over his weapons. When he said his guns were at home, the men drove him there, took the guns and left.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

J.Ž. (M, 34), Serb, from Gnjilane (AS 22 Vojvode Stepe St.), employed at Gnjilane branch office of Magistrala Priština company - abducted by the KLA on 3 July 1999, held for a week and released.

J.Ž. recounted that he went to his office about 2 p.m. on 3 July. Three Albanians in camouflage uniforms and caps with KLA badges stopped him at the entrance. Two were about 35 while the third was somewhat younger, about 27. All three were tall with dark hair and dark complexions. Two spoke only Albanian and the youngest one, who knew Serbian, interpreted for them. They said they were doing routine checks and asked why he had remained in Gnjilane. They pushed him into a metallized tan Opel Ascona without license plates and blindfolded him. In the car, they told him they knew he had been called up and served in the Yugoslav Army in Vitina and was the only Kosovo Serb in the unit. Though unable to see through the blindfold, J.Ž. realized that they were taking him to Vitina. When the car stopped, he was taken into the cellar of a house.

J.Ž. described to the HLC what happened then:
“The cellar was all of concrete and quite bare. A big guy with a beard, dark hair and skin of about 30 who spoke Serbian with a Vitina accent took off the blindfold. Though he already knew a lot about me, he asked for my particulars, where I worked and where I had been during the fighting. Telling him about my service in the Army, I mentioned something that happened in my unit. A soldier from Vranje stole a Ford Sierra from an Albanian from Drobeš (Dobresh) and brought it to Captain Jovanović at our command post. Because of the bombing, Capt. Jovanović gave orders for the car to be removed. I knew the car belonged to an Albanian called Ćerim (Qerim) so I drove it to his house. Ćerim was delighted and told everybody how his car had been returned by a soldier. The KLA man questioned me for an hour after I told this story and then said he was going to check it out. Nobody questioned me after that. Over the next week, only a young soldier came into the cellar three times a day to bring me bread, meat paste and canned meat. He was short, about 24, dark and wore a KLA uniform with a camouflage pattern.

“In the afternoon of 9 July, the KLA man who had questioned me the first day came in. He said he had checked out my story and that I could go home. He blindfolded me, led me out of the house and put me in a car. By the sound of the engine, I think it was a WV Golf. He let me out near the Truba Cafe in Klokot (Kllokot), Vitina Municipality. When he drove away, I took of the blindfold and went home.”

The witness remained in Gnjilane until 10 September 1999 when he and his family fled to Serbia.
Source: HLC, witness statement

R.R. (M), Serb, from Gnjilane, proprietor of grocery store – abducted on 7 July 1999, held for two hours and released.

R.R.’s wife stated that KLA members came to their home almost every day from mid-June to 7 July, searching the house for weapons, warning them that they had to move out, and demanding 5,000 to 10,000 deutsche marks in cash.

On 7 July, Daut Morina, an Albanian business associate of R.R. and former Gnjilane police chief, and several KLA members broke the window of R.R.’s store and loaded all the goods into a white van. On this occasion, Morina demanded 5,000 marks and when R.R. did not give him the money, took him to the KLA prison in the basement of the department store in Bojanina St. The KLA men beat R.R., asked where his son was, and threatened him with being roasted on a spit if he did not turn in his son. He was held for two hours and returned to his home.

After this incident, R.R. and his family fled Kosovo to Serbia.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Stojanović, David (M), Serb, from Gnjilane, MD - abducted from his apartment (Vojvode Stepe St) on 8 July 1999, held for several hours and released.

Stojanović’s neighbor recounted that KLA members came to the apartment in which Stojanović lived with his wife at about 5.40 p.m. on 8 July, led him out and pushed him into a car. They drove him to the building of the Binočka Morava firm where four or five KLA men beat him. He was then taken to the nearby stadium where the beating continued. Several hours later, the KLA men told Stojanović he could go. Stojanović returned home and with his wife left Gnjilane for Serbia a few days later.
Source: HLC, witness statement

T.M. (M), Serb, from Gnjilane – abducted on 9 July 1999, taken to the school dormitory in Gnjilane where he was questioned, slapped and shortly released.¹⁹
Source: HLC, witness statement

¹⁹  Witness statement on the abduction and release of T.M: Gnjilane, 2. Abducted.
 

Č.S. (F) ; S.Z. (F), Serbs, from Gnjilane – abducted by the KLA on 12 July 1999 in Bojanina St., taken to the KLA headquarters and released some 20 minutes later.²⁰
Source: HLC, witness statement

²⁰  Witness statement on the abduction and release of Č.S. and S.Z: Gnjilane, 2. Abducted.
 

Nasković, Siniša (M), Serb, from Kmetovac, Gnjilane Municipality – reported by the Church Committee to have been abducted in the summer of 1999 and released some time later.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

Perić, Živojin (M, 59), Serb, from Gnjilane (Kralja Petra St.) – abducted in the summer of 1999, taken to the cellar of the next-door house, beaten and questioned and released later that day.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

Petrović, Srdjan (M), Serb, from Gnjilane (Bojanina St.) –abducted from his home, taken to the school dormitory, questioned, beaten and released.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

Stošić, Aleksandar (M), Serb, from Gnjilane – abducted in the summer of 1999, physically abused and then released.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

Antić, Branimir (M), Serb, from Gnjilane - abducted in the summer of 1999, severely beaten and released.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

(Last name unknown) Mladen, Serb, from Gnjilane – abducted in the summer of 1999, taken to the Staro Igralište neighborhood, physically abused and released.
Source: Church Committee, Kosovo

Stojanović, Gradimir (M); Cvetanović, Ivan (M), Serbs, from Šilovo, Stajić, Jovica (M); Stojković, Vojislav (M), Serbs, from Gornje Kusce; Popović, Duško (M), Serb, from Donja Budriga (Budzike e Poshtem), Gnjilane Municipality; Perić, Igor (M), Serbian Serb, from Belgrade – abducted on 31 December 2000 on the Preševo-Gnjilane road.

The six men were abducted by armed Albanians on the Preševo-Gnjilane road, a few kilometers from the Cerevajk crossing on the administrative boundary between Serbia and Kosovo. They were released to the International Red Cross on 1 January 2001 after KFOR and FRY Yugoslavia officials intervened.
Source: Oslobodjena šestorica otetih Srba [Six Kidnapped Serbs Released], DANAS, 3 January 2001

2.2.3. Set free

J.S. (M, 54), Serb, from Bostane, Novo Brdo (Novobërdë) Municipality, employee of Novi Beograd company in Serbia; unidentified man, Serb, from Gračanica (Graqanicë)– abducted by KLA on 13 July 199 near Gnjilane, set free by KFOR the same day.

J.S. recounted to the HLC what happened:
“I was returning to Kosovo from Serbia by bus that day. Two KLA policemen in civilian clothes stopped the bus near Gnjilane and started checking the passengers’ papers. The Albanian driver tried to help me escape but it didn’t work. They took me off the bus together with an older man from Gračanica and led us to a building close by where KLA headquarters was. We were both taken into the same room. After they had searched our luggage, one of the KLA men began questioning me. First he took down the particulars in my ID card, then asked where I had been and what I did during the war. Then he started to question the older man, who offered him 100 dinars. The KLA man said he was not a member of the ‘pig police force,’ that he was an Albanian policeman, that he wouldn’t let him go even for 100 deutsche marks, and that he would take him to the main headquarters of the KLA police in Ugljare where he would confess how many Albanians he had killed and how many of their houses he had torched. Then he turned to me and told me not to be afraid, that we would not be alone because there were other Serbs imprisoned there. He took us out of the building and ordered us to get into a taxi.

“The KLA man told the taxi driver to drive slowly to the town center by way of the marketplace so as to avoid the KFOR checkpoints. When we got to the turnoff for Ugljare we had to stop because of a convoy of about 10 vehicles of the American troops with KFOR. The old man and I seized the chance, jumped out of the car and I started shouting, ‘Police UÇK’. Five or six American soldiers ran up and pointed their guns at us. I kept repeating ‘Police UÇK’. The KLA policeman shouted at me, ‘Shame on you. You’ve been riding for two hours and now you won’t pay,’ and the KFOR interpreter, an Albanian, translated this for the American soldiers. I said ‘Police UÇK’ over and over and caught one of the soldiers by the arm and pointed to the KLA policeman’s pocket. The American soldier reached into the KLA man’s pocket, took out my ID card and some kind of list and realized that they had taken our papers. The KFOR soldiers handcuffed them and took them away. They drove us to their headquarters where they offered us soft drinks, returned our papers, asked what had happened exactly and if we wanted to press charges against the KLA man. I said all I wanted was never to lay eyes on him again.”

KFOR then took J.S. and the elderly man to their homes. During August 1999, KLA members frequently came to Bostane, putting pressure on Serb families to leave the village. On one of these occasions, they set fire to J.S.’s barn and robbed him of some of his belongings. The family left the village and fled to Serbia.
Source: HLC, witness statement

A.S. (F, 20), Serb, from Gnjilane – abducted by three unidentified Albanians, taken to the apartment of a Serb in Priština, physically abused and raped. She was set free by KFOR three days later.

In her statement to the HLC, A.S. described what happened:
“I went to see a friend who lived at the end of my street between 3 and 4 p.m. that 18 July. Suddenly, a red Yugo stopped beside me on the road, a man grabbed me and pulled me into the car and put a blindfold over my eyes. Not a word was said while the car was moving. When it stopped, they took the blindfold off. I saw three men with me in the car. It was 5 p.m. and we were in Priština, in the Dardanija neighborhood in front of a 15-story apartment building. They took me into a two-room apartment. It was furnished but in a mess and filthy. They pushed me into a room and started asking questions about some people I didn’t know, about my brothers who are military personnel, and about my neighbor Zare Cvetanović. They asked where they were, what they were doing, where they were hiding. I didn’t know anything and wouldn’t have told them even if I had known. They slapped me and hit me all over the body. They had knives and pistols and threatened to kill me with them. They said I wasn’t to scream or cry because the KLA headquarters was just outside the building and threatened to take me there if I called for help. They made me speak Albanian and kept asking the same questions. It was late at night when they stopped questioning and beating me. They locked the apartment when they left.

“When they came back in the morning, they started questioning me again. One asked the questions, the other one beat me, and the third one just sat there, smoking, drinking and insulting me. When I stopped answering their questions, they got very angry. They grabbed me and tore at my clothes. They threw me down on the couch. Two held my arms and legs and the third raped me. Every five or ten minutes they would change places. They made me perform oral sex on them several times. After a while, they carried me into the other room and continued to rape me on the bed. All three noticed that I was bleeding but didn’t stop raping me and roughing me up. They slapped me whenever I cried or screamed loudly. It was getting dark outside when they left me and went into the living room. I couldn’t move from the bed because of the pain. All three stayed in the apartment that night. I heard them talking in Albanian.

“On the morning of the third day all three went out and left me locked in the apartment again. Some time later, I heard the phone ringing in the next-door apartment. Then I started looking for a phone and found it but the cord had been cut. I managed somehow to splice it and call the police for help. I found the telephone bill of the apartment’s former owner, a Serb, with the address on it so I was able to tell the police exactly where I was. Three KFOR soldiers soon came with an Albanian woman interpreter. Two soldiers stayed in the apartment and the third one and the Albanian woman took me to the police station. I said I wanted a doctor to examine me and establish that I had been raped and ill-treated, but they didn’t allow it. The two soldiers who had stayed in the apartment caught a man but when they brought him to the police I saw it wasn’t one of the kidnappers.”

The man arrested by KFOR in the apartment denied any involvement in the abduction and rape of A.S. He stated that some men had asked him to go to the apartment to pick up a friend who was there and drive her somewhere.

A few days after the incident, A.S. was called in to identify her abductors but they were not among the among arrested. She left Gnjilane that same day and fled to Montenegro. She believes that her abduction was organized out of revenge by her Albanian next-door neighbor in Gnjilane because her ex-husband and his friends had robbed and torched his house.
Source: HLC, witness statement

S.Dž. (M), Serbian Rom, from Kraljevo; his brother, uncle and brother-in-law – abducted on 28 July 1999 by four Albanian civilians near Dobrčane, Gnjilane Municipality, beaten, set free by local Albanians several hours later.

“With my uncle, brother and brother-in-law, I went to Gnjilane that day to take a relative to Serbia. We went in two cars. My brother-in-law and I were in the first, a Zastava 101, and my uncle and brother in the second, a Renault 4. We were stopped by four Albanian civilians between 6.30 and 7 p.m. just outside Dobrčane. They were wearing black pants and sweat suit tops. When we got out of the car I saw they were drunk. Another three came in a red WV Golf without plates and joined them. They started to beat my brother and uncle. Two of the Albanians pushed me and my brother-in-law into the back seat of the Zastava 101. One drove and the other kept his pistol pointed at us. The other two tied my uncle and brother to each other, bundled them into the Renault 4 and, with the red Golf following, we were driven in the direction of Gnjilane. Half an hour later, we turned left into a woods.

“They shoved us into some barn and said, ‘This isn’t Serbia, what do you want here? Who sent you? With which army did you fight?’ They put a chain round my neck, ordered us to strip naked and began beating us with clubs and crowbars and kicking and punching us all over. They pushed sharp sticks into our mouths and threatened to cut off my brother’s finger. They beat us for about one and a half hours. Then they dragged me through a small window and led me into the woods. I was scared, thinking they were going to kill me. They questioned me but didn’t wait for the answers, just rained blows with thick branches on me. This lasted about two hours. Then seven Albanians from a village near by came. Three were carrying axes and two had pistols. They told the men who were beating me to let me go, saying if they didn’t the Serbs would come again and slaughter them all. One winked at me. They gave us a minute to get dressed, put us in the back seat of the Zastava 101 and drove to the main road. I was benumbed. When we got there, they left us in the car and told us to go back to Serbia.”

S.Dž., his uncle, brother and brother-in-law returned to Serbia and received medical attention in a hospital. They never went back to Kosovo.
Source: HLC, witness statement

Vitković, Zoran (M), Serb, from Gnjilane, judge – abducted by armed Albanians on the morning of 30 July 1999 on the road to Bujanovac near Dobrčan, Gnjilane Municipality, questioned and physically abused, set free several hours later by members of the Russian contingent of KFOR.
Source: Rafali na Srbe u Gnjilanui [Fire Opened at Serbs in Gnjilane], BLIC (FoNet), 31 July 1999

Stanković, Miodrag (M, 39), Serb, from Žegra, Gnjilane Municipality – abducted by the KLA in early October 1999, tortured, set free by KFOR.
The abductors, among whom Stanković recognized his neighbors Ćerim Gazimi (Qerim Gazimi) and Idriz Iseni, dragged him into a burnt-out house and tortured him. When US members of KFOR appeared unexpectedly, the abductors ran away. Stanković was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries, which included knife cuts on his tongue and stomach.
Source: Serbs Left as Targets, KOSOVO DAILY NEWS, 22 October 1999
 

DEČANI (DEÇAN)

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.1. Killed
2.2. Free
2.2.1. Released by the KLA

DJAKOVICA

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.2. Free
2.2.1. Released by the KLA
2.2.2. Escaped

GLOGOVAC

1. Missing

GNJILANE

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.1. Killed
2.2. Free
2.2.1. Released by the KLA
2.2.3. Set free

ISTOK

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.2. Released

KAČANIK (KAÇANIK)

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.1 Killed

KOSOVSKA KAMENICA

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Killed
2.2. Free
2.2.1. Released by the KLA

KLINA (KLINE)

1. Missing
2. Abducted

KOSOVO POLJE (FUSHE E KOSOVËS)

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.1. Killed
1.2. Free
1.2.1. Released by the KLA

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA (MITROVICE)

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Killed
1.2. Free
1.1.1. Released by the KLA

LIPLJAN

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Killed
1.2. Free
2.1.1. Escaped

NOVO BRDO

1. Missing
3. Abducted
2.1 Free
2.1.1. Released by the KLA
2.1.1. Escaped
2.2. Detained

OBILIĆ (OBILIQ)

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Killed

ORAHOVAC (RRAHOVEC)

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Killed
1.2. Free
1.2.1. Released by the KLA
1.1.2. Escaped
1.1.3. Set free

PEĆ

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.1. Killed
1.2. Free
1.2.1. Released by the KLA
1.2.2. Escaped
3. Detained

PODUJEVO (PODUJEVË)

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Killed

PRIŠTINA (PRISHTINË)

1. Missing
1.1. Killed
1.2. Free
2.2.1. Released by the KLA
2.2.2. Escaped
2.2.3 Set free
3. Detained

PRIZREN

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Killed
1.2. Free
2.2.1. Released by the KLA
2.2.2. Escaped
2.2.3. Set free

SRBICA

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Free
1.1.1. Escaped

ŠTIMLJE

1. Missing
2. Abducted

ŠTRPCE

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Killed
1.2. Free
1.2.1. Escaped

SUVA REKA

1. Missing
2. Abducted
2.1. Killed
1.3. Free
1.2.1. Released by the KLA

UROŠEVAC

1. Missing
3. Abducted
1.1. Free
1.1.1. Released by the KLA
1.1.2. Escaped

VITINA

1. Missing
2.Abducted
2.1. Killed
2.2. Free
2.2.1. Released by the KLA

VUČITRN (VUSHTRRI)

1. Missing
2. Abducted
1.1. Free
1.1.1. Released by the KLA
1.1.1. Escaped

ZVEČAN

1. Missing
2. Abducted

Mailsenden