Vučitrn massacre
| Vučitrn massacre | |
|---|---|
 Location of Vučitrn in Kosovo | |
| Location | Vučitrn, Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia |
| Date | 2-3 May 1999 (Central European Time) |
| Target | Kosovo Albanian refugees |
Attack type | Mass Killing |
| Deaths | 100–120 |
| Perpetrators | Serbian Police |
The Vučitrn massacre was the mass killing of Kosovo Albanian refugees near Vučitrn, during the Kosovo War on 2-3 May 1999.
Background
A column of about 1,000 refugees were travelling in a convoy of about 100 tractors, who were fleeing fighting between the KLA and Serbian forces east of Vučitrn.[1] Serbian Police and Serb paramilitary forces caught up with the convoy that traveled south. On 2-3 May between Gornja Sudimlja and Donja Sudimlja (Albanian: Studime e Eperme and Studime e Poshtme) near Vučitrn, police and paramilitaries killed an estimated one hundred men.[2]
Romeu Ventura, an investigator for the UN war crimes tribunal, stated that 120 civilians were murdered on 2 May by Serb forces and buried two days later in a mass grave five miles east of Vučitrn.[1] After the war, forensic teams from the War Crimes Tribunal discovered ninety-eight bodies in Gornja Sudimlja.[2]
The Vučitrn case was raised at the trial of Serbian police general Vlastimir Đorđević.[3] The indictment against Đorđević alleges that some 105 Kosovo Albanians were killed in the massacre near the village of Sudimlje on 2 May 1999.[4] Đorđević was sentenced to 27 years in prison.[5]
References
- 1 2 Bruce, Cabell (August 15, 1999). "Serb war criminals seize north Kosovo". The Independent.
- 1 2 "Vucitrn (Vushtrri) Municipality". Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo (PDF). Human Rights Watch. 2001. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
- ↑ "Vlastimir Đorđević Convicted for Crimes in Kosovo". ICTY. 23 February 2011.
- ↑ "POLICE CRIMES IN VUCITRN". SENSE Tribunal. 4 January 2009.
- ↑ "Case Information Sheet: Vlastimir Đorđević" (PDF). ICTY. Retrieved 25 December 2015.