Trial of six Serbs accused of genocide to open in Kosovo
The trial of six Kosovo Serbs on the charge of genocide opens before the District Court in Kosovska Mitrovica on 5 December. Igor Simic, one of the defendants, has been in custody for the past 15 months. Co-defendants Dragan Jovanovic, Srdjan Aleksic, Vlastimir Aleksic, Branislav Popovic and Tomislav Vuckovic in the meantime escaped from the District Prison in Kosovska Mitrovica and will be tried in absentia. Prosecutor Muharem Ramadani has charged the six Serbs with “deliberately killing Albanians, forcing them in an organized and systematic manner to move out, plundering and destroying their property, all with the aim of completely or partly destroying the Albanian community in Kosovska Mitrovica.”