Yugoslav Army officer testifies about "cleansing" of Albanian villages in Kosovo and burning of bodies

Testifying at the trial of three Yugoslav Army soldiers charged with the murders of Feriz and Rukije Krasniqi, a military security officer confirmed that crimes had been committed against ethnic Albanian civilians in Gornja Susica and Saskovac villages in Kosovo.

On 16 November, Lt. Col. Ljubisa Micic told the Military Court in Nis that he had conducted an investigation in Gornja Susica during the NATO intervention and, on the basis of his findings, preferred charges against Capt. Dragisa Petrovic and reservists Nenad Stamenkovic and Tomica Jovic for the murder of the elderly Albanian couple. Lt. Col. Micic found five bodies in the village, four of which were burned, and identified two as the remains of Feriz and Rukije Krasniqi. He established that Capt. Petrovic ordered Stamenkovic and Jovic to kill the couple because they refused to leave the village. He said he had information that five civilians were killed in Saskovac village but was unable to find the bodies, adding that the company under the command of Srecko Geric boasted abut these killings. Lt. Col. Micic denied that defendants Stamenkovic and Jovic had told him they had admitted murdering the Krasniqis only to get back at Capt. Petrovic with whom they were on bad terms.

"I tried to establish exactly what happened and who the perpetrators were because I believed that an immediate reaction would save the Army from chaos and prevent similar occurrences in the future. I did it for the Army," Micic told the court.

Testifying as a witness, Srecko Geric said his company was tasked with forcing the inhabitants of Saskovac and Gornja Susica to leave the villages. Asked by the presiding judge, Col. Radenko Miladinovic, at whose orders they "cleansed" the two villages, Geric replied that the order was given by their battalion commander, Capt. Dragisa Petrovic. Witness Dragan Grujic retracted the statement he made to the investigating judge in which he said he had seen Stamenkovic and Jovic kill the Krasniqis on Capt. Petrovic's order. He confirmed, however, that he was in a unit whose job was to "finish burning" bodies.

"The bodies were buried. They had already been burnt somewhat and we just finished the job," he said.

This is the first case on which a court in Serbia cooperated with the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in clarifying war crimes. At the request of the Military Court, UNMIK submitted a statement by the Krasniqis' son in which he said Yugoslav Army members and police on 28 March 1999 ordered the villagers in Gornja Susica to move out immediately. Only his parents remained as his mother was paralyzed.

The trial resumes on 27 November when the military investigating judge in Nis, Mirko Krstovic, will be confronted with witnesses who allege that he forced them with threats to accuse Petrovic, Stamenkovic and Jovic of the murders.