Serbian War Crimes Court Convicts Four for 1999 Podujevo Massacre

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia -On Thursday the Serbian War Crimes Chamber of Belgrade District Court sentenced three former members of a notorious Serb paramilitary unit called the Scorpions to twenty years in prison, with another receiving fifteen years because he was a juvenile at the time of the 1999 massacre. The massacre at Podujevo is considered one of the most brutal incidents of atrocity committed during the 1998-1999 Kosovo war, with elderly and children among the victims. The youngest victim was a twenty-one-month old infant.

During the trial, survivors recounted how the paramilitary forces lined nineteen members of an ethnic Albanian family up against a wall and opened fire on them. The account was substantiated by the testimony of a former Scorpion member's anonymous testimony.  He also reportedly witnessed the rape of one of the women, who was later shot.

Only five children, aged four to sixteen, survived the shootings, all with serious injuries. These children were saved from slaughter by regular Serbian troops who arrived on the scene of the massacre.

 
Pictured:  Saranda Bogujevci, a survivor of the massacre at Podujevo.  Bogujevci's extended family was killed in the massacre, and she had 16 bullets removed afterwards. [Source: CBC]

Bruno Vekaric, spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecution, said "This verdict shows that there are no untouchables in Serbia...All those who committed war crimes must face justice."

The Scorpions first drew public attention when footage of their 1995 execution of six Muslim youths from Srebrenica was shown at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

  
Pictured:  LEFT - Saranda's brothers, Shpetim and Shepnd Bogujevic. RIGHT - Saranda's grandmother, Shehide.  All three were killed in the massacre. [Source: CBC]

It was only possible for domestic war crimes trials of Serbs accused of committing atrocities during the Balkan wars of the 1990's to take place after the ouster of Milosevic in 2000.  Dealing with war crimes committed by Serb forces has been a primary obstacle faced by Serbia in its goal of obtaining EU membership.

For more information, please see:

AP - 4 Serbs convicted for Kosovo massacre - 18 June 2009

Reuters - Serbia jails ex-paramilitaries for killings - 18 June 2009

UPI - Serbia jails 4 men for Kosovo war crimes - 18 June 2009

CBC.CA - Massacre at Podujevo, Kosovo -  29 March 2004