KLA crimes: Mass grave 'Malisevo'

Abstract

KLA launched an offensive on Orahovac on 17 July 1998, aiming to capture the town of Orahovac and make it 'free territory' from which to proceed further action in Kosovo and Metohija. The KLA took Orahovac, except for the part of the city where the Serb population lived as the majority. Orahovac was elected target because there was no garrison of the Yugoslav Army in the town, but only a small number of police officers, and because of the proximity of the Albanian border. After the offensive of the armed forces of the FRY, KLA members were pushed out of Orahovac, and the town was liberated on 19 July 1998. KLA retreated towards Mališevo and Drenica, and a large number of ethnic Albanian civilians fled with them. The municipality of Orahovac belonged to the operational zone of 'Pastrik' and the KLA Commander in Chief of the area was Ramush Haradinaj. KLA controlled Orahovac from 17 to 19 July 1998 and in that time it pursued organized violence and terror against members of minority communities. During this offensive, about 40 persons of Serbian nationality were abducted in the Orahovac region and they disappeared without a trace. In 2005 the media revealed that a mass grave, which bears the designation TBE 05, was discovered in Mališevo. The remains of a number of people that the KLA kidnapped while they controlled Orahovac were found in the grave. For many cultures around the world number 13 is considered to be unlucky. This was the exact number of body remains that were found in the mass-grave 'Mališevo', in the municipal area of the same name. All 13 victims were males, 12 out of whom were of Serbian nationality and one Bulgarian. The professional structure analysis of the victims shows that 4 victims were laborers, 2 firefighters, 2 nursing technicians, one retired person, an agriculturist, a medical doctor, a clerk and a caterer. The age analysis indicates that 12 persons came from labor force (18 - 65 yr) whereas one person belonged to the elders (65+). Ten of the victims were abducted on 17 July 1998, while three had been abducted earlier. Probably all of the ten victims who were abducted on 17 July 1998, were murdered the next day. Twelve of the victims were civilians, while one was a military man. The location where the mass grave was found was a scaffold. Nobody has been punished for the kidnapping and murder of citizens whose remains were found in the tomb.