Vushtrri massacre

{{Infobox civilian attack

|title= Vushtrri massacre

|image=Vushtrri 2006.PNG

|caption=Location of Vushtrri in Kosovo

|location= Vushtrri, Kosovo

|target= Kosovo Albanian refugees

|date= 2–3 May 1999

|coordinates={{coord|display=title,inline}}

|timezone= Central European Time

|type= Mass Killing

|fatalities= 100–120

|injuries=

|perps= Serbian Police

|motive=

}}

The Vushtrri massacre was the mass killing of Kosovo Albanian refugees near Vushtrri, during the Kosovo War on 2–3 May 1999.

Background

A column of about 1,000 refugees were travelling in a convoy of about 100 tractors, who were fleeing fighting between the KLA and Serbian forces east of Vučitrn, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Vushtrri, Kosovo).{{cite news|last=Bruce|first=Cabell|title=Serb war criminals seize north Kosovo|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/serb-war-criminals-seize-north-kosovo-1112934.html|newspaper=The Independent|date=August 15, 1999}} Serbian Police and paramilitary forces caught up with the convoy that traveled south. On 2–3 May between Gornja Sudimlja and Donja Sudimlja ({{langx|sq|Studime e Eperme and Studime e Poshtme}}) near Vushtrri, an estimated 100 men were killed.{{cite book|title=Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo|year=2001|publisher=Human Rights Watch|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/3c2b204a0.pdf|chapter=Vucitrn (Vushtrri) Municipality|access-date=25 December 2015}}

ICTY investigator Romeu Ventura said that 120 civilians were murdered on 2 May by Serb forces and buried two days later in a mass grave five miles east of Vushtrri. After the war, ICTY forensic teams discovered 98 bodies in Gornja Sudimlja.

The Vushtrri case was raised at the trial of Serbian police general Vlastimir Đorđević.{{cite news|title=Vlastimir Đorđević Convicted for Crimes in Kosovo|url=http://www.icty.org/sid/10606|newspaper=ICTY|date=23 February 2011}} The indictment against Đorđević says that some 105 Kosovo Albanians{{who?|date=May 2019}} were killed in the massacre near the village of Sudimlje on 2 May 1999.{{cite news|title=POLICE CRIMES IN VUCITRN|url=http://www.sense-agency.com/icty/police-crimes-in-vucitrn.29.html?cat_id=1&news_id=11185|newspaper=SENSE Tribunal|date=4 January 2009}} Đorđević was sentenced to 27 years in prison.{{cite web|title=Case Information Sheet: Vlastimir Đorđević|url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/djordjevic/cis/en/cis_djordjevic_en.pdf|publisher=ICTY|access-date=25 December 2015}}

Vushtrri massacre

Background

References

See also