Milorad Gjokovic, accused of war crimes during the conflict in Kosovo, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Basic Court in Pristina.
According to the indictment filed on June 23, 2023, Gjokovic was accused that during the years 1998-1999, in the village of Ozdrim in Peja and the surrounding areas, as a member of the Serbian police and military forces, he participated in actions against the Albanian civilian population, including murder, raids, beatings, ill-treatment, arrests, torture, inhumane treatment, detention in conditions of slavery, as well as expulsion and deportation of civilians.
The indictment states that Serbian forces entered the village of Ozdrim from several directions, opening fire on the civilian population. As a result, six civilians of Albanian nationality were killed: IK, Sh.K., EM, R.Sh., Z.Sh. and MH Likewise, three other civilians, AG, HG and MG, after being wounded were first transported to the Peja hospital and then, according to the indictment, executed and buried in the village of Lutogllavë.
The indictment also mentions that five other Albanian civilians, RK, ZK, AK, AK and A.Sh., were killed during the offensive, but their bodies have never been found and they continue to appear as missing persons.
In addition to crimes against civilians, Gjokovic was also accused of looting, burning and destroying the houses of the Albanian population in the region of Peja.
The court found him guilty of the criminal offense “War crime against the civilian population”, sanctioned in article 142, related to article 22 of the Criminal Code of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the law that was in force at the time of the commission of the offenses for which he was judged.
He will also be credited with the time spent in custody.
