24.09.2024. » 14:38
#7 Three witnesses testified in the trial against the accused Čedomir Aksić
"They ruined my life and that of my children, I cannot forgive because they caused us a lot of traumas, I had a lot of anxiety, I never slept as I slept before that" - this is how the witness Shukrije Hysenaj declared in the trial against the accused for war crimes Čedomir Aksic (Čedo) in the session of 18.09.2024 in the Court of Pristina.
Čedomir Aksiq is accused of having committed serious crimes against the Albanian civilian population in the period January-May 1999, in the Municipality of Štimlje. These offenses include murder, torture, grievous bodily harm, endangering the health of the detainees, spreading intimidation, and ordering the displacement of the civilian population.
The witness stated that Serbian forces had taken her husband, and then after taking him, they had gone to the mountain where she had been and had forced the late H., her husband, to call her name because they had not believed that he had been with wife and family.
"Oj Shukri” called me, I was terrible and thinking about whether to go out or not, and even now I have decided to go out I think about it, I was so bad at that time. I couldn't carry my son with me, I asked for help, to hold my son" - said the witness Shukrije Hysenaj.
Further, she confessed that when she came out, she thought that this was the last minute of her life.
"When I decided to get out there, I thought about it for a couple of minutes and it felt like drowning to me" - added the witness.
In the question of the prosecutor Habibe Salihu, when the witness found out about her husband's death.
In this regard, she said that her neighbors informed her about that.
"I found out the next day on the 14th when they returned home, they found his body in at the house surrounding, and told me that evening," said the witness Shukrije Hysenaj.
Witnesses Ruzhdi Jashari and Agim Hysenaj also gave their testimony at the hearing.
Ruzhdi Jashari stated that he is sure that Čedomir Aksić is responsible for the burning of his house.
"The responsibility is 100% Čedomir Aksić in the local aspect, while in terms of other circumstances, the aspect of responsibility is an aspect of the state responsibility of the politics of Serbia" - said the witness Ruzhdi Jashari.
He stated that the Serbian forces once entered his houses, looted them, burned his house, and came to search for him because the latter was giving information from his house in the war.
Furthermore, he stated that his family had also filed a criminal complaint against the accused Čedomir Aksić.
"Yes, I indeed filed the criminal complaint to the Special Prosecutor's Office in Pristina then UNMIK" - declared the witness Ruzhdi Jashari.
The witness Agim Hysenaj stated that he knew the accused Čedomir Aksic, and that he had seen him on the mountain.
"We were all at the corner of the mountain and we heard when the Serbs came near and we ran away, and H. told us he is going to check, who they are, thinking it is the KLA. As he approached them, they seized and captured H." - said the witness Hysenaj.
"It was Čeda, I saw it with my own eyes". They asked H. "with whom are you?", the witness Agim Hysenaj added.
In the question of the guardian of the accused Čedomir Aksic, the lawyer Žarko Gajić, whether he had ever had bad relations with the accused.
The witness Agim Hysenaj stated that he had not, but H., had because he had carried wood, and the accused was the woodward and they had all had conflicts.
As a reminder, the judicial process against the accused Čedomir Aksić is taking place in absentia since the Prosecution and the Court have extended all the possibilities to ensure his presence in the trial.
This criminal case is being tried in the Special Department of the Court of Priština.
The case is being judged by Violeta Namani-Hajra, president of the panel, and members Arben Hoti and Rrahman Beqiri.
What does the prosecution file say?
According to the indictment dated 02.05.2023, the defendant Čedomir Aksić is accused of, together with a yet unknown criminal group, having directed an operation in an area known as "Chestnut Hill"(kodra e gështenjave) at the beginning of April 1999, which is located between the Municipality of Štimlje and the villages of Malopoljce, Račak, and Petrovo.
They are accused of ordering and expelling the residents of this area, as well as carrying out executions and destroying the houses of the brothers Ruzhdi, Sadri, Rexhep, and Hamdi Jashari in Shtime, and other actions that had caused damages in the amount of 300 thousand euros.
On May 13-14, 1999, according to the prosecution file, in a place known as "Lugu i Neshës" in the village of Pertovo in Štimlje, Halil Hysenaj, now deceased, was staying with his family and other members of the Albanian community who had chosen to remain on the mountain to protect themselves from the attacks of the Serbian forces. As the Serbian forces began to head towards their location on the mountain, Halil Hysenaj set out to confirm whether they were members of the KLA or Serbian forces. Hysenaj was stopped by the accused Aksić, who was wearing a "mottled" uniform and used a 10-gauge rifle, and eventually shot him. Later, the lifeless body was found by the residents of the village.
Furthermore, the accused Aksić together with his group, according to the prosecutor's file, on January 15, 1999, in the village of Račak in the Municipality of Štimlje, is accused of having participated in the murder of several individuals during the armed attack on the Albanian civilian population, including Hajriz Brahimi, Hakin Murati, Sabri Murati, Arif Murati, Ahmet Mustafa, Sadik Mujota, Skënder Halili and Hanumshahe Mujota.
According to the prosecutor's file, at the moment when the elder Hajriz Brahimi, now deceased, was trying to leave his house and was going towards the mountain, Čedomir Aksić and his group had shot at him with firearms, leaving him dead within seconds. Afterwards, they approached the deceased, shooting again in his direction, to make sure that he was dead. At the same time, after a few moments, the same people shot at the elderly - the brothers Haki, Sabri, and Arif Murati, who were killed on the spot, where they then approached them and shot at them again.
Further, according to the prosecution's file, the accused Aksić together with the group went down to the village of Ahmet Mustafa's house, breaking the door by force and taking Ahmet, his wife Sala, and Mentor Halili out of their house, where they have killed Ahmet Mustafa, in the presence of his wife Sala and Mentor and Mentor managed to escape.
At that moment, Aksić and his group had shot at and killed Sadik Mujota, who was crossing the fence of the yard in order to leave the place where they were, and injured Skender Halili in the leg who was lying on the ground.
Sadik Mujota's daughter, according to the prosecutor's file, Hanumshahe Mujota went to help her father through a barrage of bullets but was killed near her father's corpse. Skender Halili, who was wounded in the leg, was shot at again to make sure he was dead, and after they shot and left Mehmet Mustafa dead in the backyard.
- President of the judicial panel – Vioeta Namani Hajra
- Member - Arben Hoti Rrahman Beqiri
- Persecutor- Habibe Salihu
- Accused - Čedomir Aksić
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