Witness gives testimony in Suva Reka case

Djelaj Berisha, who had 23 of his family members killed, testified at the trial for war crimes committed in Suva Reka in Kosovo in March 1999.

Izvor: Tanjug

Monday, 12.01.2009.

17:50

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Djelaj Berisha, who had 23 of his family members killed, testified at the trial for war crimes committed in Suva Reka in Kosovo in March 1999. Radoslav Mitrovic, Radojko Repanovic, Nenad Jovanovic, Sladjan Cukaric, Milorad Nisavic, Miroslav and Zoran Petkovic and Ramiz Papic are all on trial for these crimes before the War Crimes Department of the Belgrade District Court. Witness gives testimony in Suva Reka case According to the indictment, they participated in war crimes in which 48 civilians were killed, mostly women, elderly people and children. This occurred during clashes between Serbian security forces and the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA. Mitrovic, Repanovic and Jovanovic are accused of ordering attacks on civilians in the Berisha neighborhood, in which ethnic Albanian families lived. The others were responsible for searching, robbing and burning Albanian homes, killing some and threatening others to leave Suva Reka and go to Albania, according to the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution. Berisha said today that he was in Suva Reka on April 2, 1999, and that he left for Prizren with his family, adding that he was forced to go to Albania after the Suva Reka crimes were committed. The witness told the judges in Belgrade on Monday that on March 22, 1999, the OSCE left Suva Reka, and that there was no freedom of movement. He said that he had heard about the crimes half an hour after the fact from a relative, whom he named as Agron Berisha, who told him that some of his family members had been executed in front of their homes. Berisha also testified that Agron told him the local children had run away, but that Serbian police gathered them and put them in a local pizzeria, adding that no one survived the pizzeria massacre. He said that Jashar Berisha, himself killed a while later, told him the same account of the events. Once he had returned from Albania, the witness told the court, he found all of the Albanian homes in Suva Reka burned to the ground. Berisha also stated that 23 members of his immediate family were killed and that he identified 14 of them after their bodies were found in a mass grave in Batajnica, near Belgrade. Five others were found in a grave in Suva Reka while the others are still listed as missing.

Witness gives testimony in Suva Reka case

According to the indictment, they participated in war crimes in which 48 civilians were killed, mostly women, elderly people and children. This occurred during clashes between Serbian security forces and the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA.

Mitrović, Repanović and Jovanović are accused of ordering attacks on civilians in the Berisha neighborhood, in which ethnic Albanian families lived.

The others were responsible for searching, robbing and burning Albanian homes, killing some and threatening others to leave Suva Reka and go to Albania, according to the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution.

Berisha said today that he was in Suva Reka on April 2, 1999, and that he left for Prizren with his family, adding that he was forced to go to Albania after the Suva Reka crimes were committed.

The witness told the judges in Belgrade on Monday that on March 22, 1999, the OSCE left Suva Reka, and that there was no freedom of movement.

He said that he had heard about the crimes half an hour after the fact from a relative, whom he named as Agron Berisha, who told him that some of his family members had been executed in front of their homes.

Berisha also testified that Agron told him the local children had run away, but that Serbian police gathered them and put them in a local pizzeria, adding that no one survived the pizzeria massacre.

He said that Jashar Berisha, himself killed a while later, told him the same account of the events.

Once he had returned from Albania, the witness told the court, he found all of the Albanian homes in Suva Reka burned to the ground.

Berisha also stated that 23 members of his immediate family were killed and that he identified 14 of them after their bodies were found in a mass grave in Batajnica, near Belgrade. Five others were found in a grave in Suva Reka while the others are still listed as missing.

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