Serbian police arrests 10 former KLA members over war crimes
Serbian police has arrested on Friday 10 former members of the Albanian separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) suspected of commiting war crimes against Serb civilians in 1999, the Serbian ministry of Interior has announced
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, December 26, 2008
The operation was carried out without armed clashes in Presevo, a town in the extreme south of central Serbia and populated by an Albanian majority.
The suspects are members of the so-called "Gnjilane group", considered responsible for killing at least 51 and kidnapping 159 Serbs and other non-Albanians between June and October 1999.
The operation was carried on the order of Serbia's War Crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic.
"Apart from murders, the suspects have committed a larger number of criminal acts, including rape, detention, mutilation, torture and robbing of civilians, with the aim of expelling the Serb and non-Albanian population from the territory of the municipality of Gnjilane", a statement from the prosecutor's office said.
The crimes were committed in three locations in Gnjilane, a town in eastern Kosovo.
The action of the Serb police and the Serb intelligence service BIA was planned for several months due to an extremely high risk of its implementation, due to the fact that almost all of the suspects were armed.
