War Crimes Department in Belgrade is hampering the trial for crimes committed in the village of Terrnje

Families of the victims of Terrnje village, Municipality of Suva Reka, informed the Head of Department for War Crimes in Belgrade, Judge Mirjana Ilic, who is also the presiding judge in the case against officers Rajko Kozlina and Pavle Gavrilovic for the murder of 27 women, children, and the elderly on 25th March 1999, that they will not take part in further proceedings due to her decision to exclude the representatives of injured parties (lawyers from Kosovo) on the grounds that they are not registered with the Serbian Chamber of Advocates.

HLC Kosovo considers that Judge Mirjana Ilic is not observing the achieved standards in representing injured parties from Kosova with regard to the cases of war crimes and reparations before the courts in Serbia, according to which the injured parties will be represented by lawyers from Kosovo. Therefore, her decision is not based on legal grounds.

HLC Kosovo calls on judge Ilic to revoke her decision and enable the commencement of the trial of the perpetrators of this serious crime with the participation of witnesses of the crime and family members of the victims.

On behalf of the families,

FDH Kosovo
Bekim Blakaj, director