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Among the biggest wartime crimes, Kosovo investigates them with two policemen – there are no more capacities. Currently, there are 78 reported cases of sexual violence in the war – six of them reported this year.
The exact figures are not known, but it is estimated that the total number of sexually violated persons during the 1998/99 war in Kosovo is around 20,000.
“Currently, two investigators are assigned to the War Crimes Investigation Unit, who investigate and document cases of sexual violence/rape during the war”, says a written statement of the Kosovo Police, given to Radio Free Europe.
There it is announced that this unit is centralized, which means that it covers all regions of Kosovo, but no other details are given.
In the Ministry of Justice they say that Kosovo, currently, “does not have sufficient capacities for addressing war crimes within the justice system”, but they promise that their priority remains “increasing these capacities”.
“The number of police investigators, but also of prosecutors and judges for the investigation and addressing of cases, which are classified as war crimes or crimes against the civilian population, is insufficient”, says the MD in a statement to REL.
In the Special Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kosovo, over 1,250 cases of war crimes are pending, including 50 cases of sexual violence.
From this institution they say that the treatment of cases is done “with dedication”, but the delays in the treatment of cases, according to them, are related to the slow collection of evidence by the investigating police in the field.
Tahiri-Sulimani: For almost three years, no information from justice
Shyhrete Tahiri-Sulimani, a survivor of sexual violence during the war in Kosovo, filed a criminal complaint for her case as early as October 2019.
Although almost three years have passed since that time, Tahiri-Sulimani says that there is no information from the justice system.
“Nothing has changed, the same… But, I intend to present the case where I live, in the West”, says Tahiri-Sulimani for REL.
She is the second woman in Kosovo, after Vasfije Krasniqi, who has spoken publicly about her experiences of sexual violence in the war.
The former president of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, who has often become the voice of these victims, says that it is necessary to increase the number of staff in both law enforcement and justice bodies that deal with these cases.
“I don’t know how matters are regulated within the police system, but, in general terms, I think that two officials [policorë] are below the minimum necessary to address these cases”, says Jahjaga for Radio Free Europe.
“We are 23 years since the end of the war, 14 years since the declaration of Kosovo’s independence, and Kosovo should have had much greater capacities in terms of addressing war crimes, but especially sexual violence, which has been used as a means of war by Serbian forces in Kosovo”, she says.
Only one convicted of sexual violence in the war
Over two decades after the war, the authorities in Kosovo have convicted only one person for committing sexual violence in the war.
Former Serbian police reservist, Zoran Vukotić, was sentenced in July 2021 to ten years in prison.
The European Mission for the Rule of Law in Kosovo, EULEX, was initially involved in the investigation of cases of sexual violence in the war, which, in 2018, handed over the powers to the local institutions.
In a statement to Radio Free Europe, this mission says that, in total, “it has handled 25 cases of violations as war crimes.”
“Some of these cases are still being investigated, some have been dismissed, and some have been sent for trial”, says EULEX.
In 2014, Kosovo adopted a law to recognize the status of victim of war sexual violence to raped persons.
The government commission working in this direction started work in 2018, and since then, more than 1,000 people have managed to secure this status – given that they have to provide a number of pieces of evidence proving that they have been victims of rape in war.
Linda Sada leads the non-governmental organization “Medica Gjakova”, through which victims of sexual violence can apply for recognition of their status.
Sada says that her organization is in constant contact with the Kosovo Police for the cases of rape victims and adds that “it is senseless” that only two police officers are involved in investigations.
“It makes absolutely no sense. “The number of prosecutors and police officers is very small,” she says.
Currently, four prosecutors deal with wartime crimes in Kosovo. The Ministry of Justice says that they have allocated a budget for increasing the capacities of prosecutors and express their belief that they will be able to do more in “bringing justice to the victims of war crimes”. Until then, the ongoing effects of sexual violence, but also of other crimes, will continue to remain even more open wounds for the victims./REL
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