Editing Kosovo War (section)

==War crimes==
{{Main|War crimes in the Kosovo War}}

===By the Federal Yugoslav government===
{{Main|Serbian war crimes in the Yugoslav Wars}}

[[File:Vlastimir Đorđević.jpg|right|thumb|180px|[[Vlastimir Đorđević]], former Serb colonel general, at the ICTY]]

For the [[government of Serbia]], cooperation with the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]] is "still regarded as a distressing obligation, the necessary price for joining the [[European Union]]".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/uncomfortable-truths-war-crimes-in-the-balkans|title=Uncomfortable Truths: War Crimes in the Balkans|date=16 November 2011|work=Balkan Insight|access-date=1 April 2013}}</ref>  Religious objects were damaged or destroyed. Of the 498 mosques in Kosovo that were in active use, the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) documented that 225 mosques sustained damage or destruction by the Yugoslav Serb army.<ref name="Mehmeti72">{{cite book|last=Mehmeti|first=Jeton|chapter=Faith and Politics in Kosovo: The status of Religious Communities in a Secular Country|editor1-last=Roy|editor1-first=Olivier|editor2-last=Elbasani|editor2-first=Arolda|title=The Revival of Islam in the Balkans: From Identity to Religiosity|year=2015|location=New York|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-1137517845|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4F9OCgAAQBAJ&q=Kosovo+war+mosques&pg=PA72|page=72}} "Islamic heritage in general has received meagre legal attention although such heritage was severely damaged during the war. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) documented that, of 498 mosques that were in active use, approximately 225 of them were damaged or destroyed by Serbian military during the years 1998–1999."</ref> In all, eighteen months of the Yugoslav Serb counterinsurgency campaign between 1998 and 1999 within Kosovo resulted in 225 or a third out of a total of 600 mosques being damaged, vandalised, or destroyed.<ref name="Herscher87">{{harvnb|Herscher|Riedlmayer|2000|pp=87}}. "The attack on Landovica's mosque was reprised throughout Kosovo during the eighteen months of the Serb counterinsurgency campaign. Approximately 225 of Kosovo's 600 mosques were vandalized, damaged, or destroyed during that campaign."</ref><ref name="Bevan85">{{cite book|last=Bevan|first=Robert|title=The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War|year=2007|publisher=Reaktion books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xuz6GngdaVsC&q=kosovo+war+museum+prizren&pg=PT122|isbn=978-1861896384|page=85}} "Although the priceless Serbian Orthodox heritage of Kosovo was damaged during the Kosovo conflict and after (and Serbia itself did indeed lose some buildings to NATO raids), it is the Muslim heritage, as in Bosnia, that was devastated by the war. A third of Kosovo's historic mosques were destroyed or damaged, as were 90 per cent of the traditional kulla (stone tower-houses), as part of the Serbian campaign of ethnic cleansing that followed the pattern set in Bosnia, and made worse by the efficiency lessons learned there. The destruction of Kosovo's non-Serb architectural heritage was a planned and methodical element of ethnic cleansing."</ref> During the war, Islamic architectural heritage posed for Yugoslav Serb paramilitary and military forces as Albanian patrimony, with destruction of non-Serbian architectural heritage being a methodical and planned component of [[ethnic cleansing]] in Kosovo.<ref name="Bevan85"/><ref name="Herscher13">
{{cite book|last=Herscher|first=Andrew|title=Violence taking place: The architecture of the Kosovo conflict|year=2010|location=Stanford|publisher=Stanford University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pnSvZzDS0RYC&q=Kosovo+je+Srbija|isbn=978-0804769358|page=13}}</ref>

Widespread rape and sexual violence by the Serbian army, police and paramilitaries occurred during the conflict and the majority of victims were Kosovo Albanian women,<ref name="Amnestysurvivors61315"/><ref name="De Lellio522">{{cite journal|last1=De Lellio|first1= Anna|last2= Schwandner-Sievers|first2= Stephanie|year=2006|volume=12|issue=3|title=The Legendary Commander: the construction of an Albanian master-narrative in post-war Kosovo|doi=10.1111/j.1469-8129.2006.00252.x|journal=Nations and Nationalism|page=522}}</ref> numbering an estimated 20,000.<ref name="KadriuMorina">{{cite news|last1=Kadriu|first1=Arber|last2=Morina|first2=Die|title=Pioneering Kosovo Rape Victim Relives Battle for Justice|url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/pioneering-kosovo-rape-victim-relives-battle-for-justice-10-18-2018|date=18 October 2018|access-date=27 September 2019|agency=Balkaninsight|publisher=Birn}}</ref> The crimes of rape by the Serb military, paramilitary and police amounted to crimes against humanity and a war crime of torture.<ref name="Amnestysurvivors61315">{{cite web | url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/EUR7075582017ENGLISH.PDF | title=Wounds that burn our souls": Compensation for Kosovo's wartime rape survivors, but still no justice | publisher=[[Amnesty International]] | pages=6, 13, 15 | date=13 December 2017 | access-date=27 September 2019 | archive-date=1 August 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801024644/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/EUR7075582017ENGLISH.PDF | url-status=dead }}</ref>

On 27 April 1999, a [[Meja massacre|mass execution]] of at least 377 Kosovo Albanian civilians, of whom 36 were under 18 years old, was committed by Serbian police and [[Military of Serbia and Montenegro|Yugoslav Army]] forces in the village of Meja near the town of [[Gjakova]]. It followed an operation which began after the killing of six Serbian policemen by the [[Kosovo Liberation Army]] (KLA). The victims were pulled from refugee convoys at a checkpoint in Meja and their families were ordered to proceed to [[Albania]]. Men and boys were separated and then executed by the road.<ref name="Ball2002">{{cite book|last=Ball|first=Howard|title=War Crimes and Justice: A Reference Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=keVtk-r73EYC&pg=PA197|access-date=31 March 2013|year=2002|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1576078990|pages=197–}}</ref> It was one of the largest massacres in the Kosovo War.<ref>{{cite book| last=Jones| first=Adam| ref=Jones| year=2006| publisher=Routledge|  url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RnO_Z3y5elgC| title= Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction| access-date=30 March 2013| page=330| isbn=978-1134259809}}</ref>

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević was charged by the UN's [[International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) with [[crimes against humanity]] and war crimes. In 2001, then-President [[Vojislav Koštunica]] "fought tooth and nail" against attempts to put Milošević before an international court but was unable to prevent this happening after further atrocities were revealed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Judah|first=Tim|title=The Serbs|edition=3rd|year=2009|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-15826-7|page=346}}</ref>

By 2014, the ICTY issued final verdicts against the indicted Yugoslav officials who were found guilty of [[deportation]], other inhumane acts ([[forcible transfer]]), [[murder]] and [[persecutions]] ([[crimes against humanity]], Article 5), as well as murder (violations of the [[laws or customs of war]], Article 3):
* [[Nikola Šainović]], former deputy prime minister of the FRY, sentenced to 18 years in prison.<ref name="ICTY CIS">{{cite web| title=Šainović et al., Case Information Sheet| url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/milutinovic/cis/en/cis_sainovic_al_en.pdf| publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia |date=2014| access-date=11 January 2019}}</ref>
* [[Dragoljub Ojdanić]], former Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, sentenced to 15 years in prison.<ref name="ICTY CIS"/>
* [[Nebojša Pavković]], former Commander of the Third Army of the Yugoslav Army, sentenced to 22 years in prison.<ref name="ICTY CIS"/>
* [[Vladimir Lazarević]], former Commander of the Priština Corps of the Yugoslav Army, sentenced to 14 years in prison.<ref name="ICTY CIS"/>
* [[Sreten Lukić]], former Head of the [[Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs]], sentenced to 20 years in prison.<ref name="ICTY CIS"/>
* [[Vlastimir Đorđević]], former Assistant Minister of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) and Chief of the Public Security Department (RJB) of the MUP, was sentenced to 18 years in prison.<ref>{{cite web| title=Vlastimir Đorđević – Case Information Sheet| url=http://www.icty.org/x/cases/djordjevic/cis/en/cis_djordjevic_en.pdf| publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia | access-date=11 January 2019}}</ref>
* [[Milan Milutinović]] was acquitted of all charges.<ref name="ICTY CIS"/>
* [[Vlajko Stojiljković]] committed suicide.
* Slobodan Milošević died before a verdict was reached.

The ICTY found that:
{{blockquote|...FRY and Serbian forces use[d] violence and terror to force a significant number of Kosovo Albanians from their homes and across the borders, in order for the state authorities to maintain control over Kosovo&nbsp;... This campaign was conducted by [[Military of Serbia and Montenegro|army]] and [[Ministry of Internal Affairs (Serbia)|Interior Ministry]] [[Law enforcement in Serbia|police forces (MUP)]] under the control of FRY and Serbian authorities, who were responsible for mass expulsions of Kosovo Albanian civilians from their homes, as well as incidents of killings, [[sexual assault]], and the [[Desecration|intentional destruction]] of [[mosque]]s.<ref name="Five Senior Serb Officials Convicted">{{cite news|title=Five Senior Serb Officials Convicted of Kosovo Crimes, One Acquitted|url=http://www.icty.org/sid/10070|access-date=1 April 2013|publisher=[[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]]|date=26 February 2009}}</ref>}}

===By Kosovo Albanian forces===
{{Main|Kosovo Liberation Army#Massacres}}
{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 220
| image1            = Kosovo-metohija-koreni-duse046.jpg
| caption1          = [[Staro Gracko massacre]] memorial
| image2            = Monument to Serbs Killed in Kosovo since 1990s - Mitrovica (Serb Side) - Kosovo.jpg
| caption2          = Monument to Serbian victims of Kosovo War in [[Mitrovica, Kosovo|Mitrovica]]
}}

The ICTY convicted [[Kosovo Liberation Army|KLA]] commander [[Haradin Bala]] for murder, torture and cruel treatment in the [[Lapušnik prison camp]], and sentencted him to 13 years’ imprisonment. [[Fatmir Limaj]] and [[Isak Musliu]] were acquitted.<ref>{{cite news| work=UN News| title=UN tribunal upholds judgments in three cases against Kosovo fighters| date=27 September 2007| url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2007/09/233262}}</ref>

In 2008, [[Carla Del Ponte]] published a book in which she alleged that, after the end of the war in 1999, Kosovo Albanians were smuggling organs of between 100 and 300 Serbs and other minorities from the province to Albania.<ref>{{cite news|last=Champion|first=Marc|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120812796372611429?mod=googlenews_wsj|title=Horrors Alleged in Kosovo|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=2008-04-14|access-date=2012-05-06}}</ref>

In March 2005, a UN tribunal indicted Kosovo Prime Minister [[Ramush Haradinaj]] for war crimes against the Serbs. On 8 March, he tendered his resignation. Haradinaj, an ethnic Albanian, was a former commander who led units of the Kosovo Liberation Army and was appointed prime minister after winning an election of 72 votes to three in the Kosovo's Parliament in December 2004. Haradinaj was acquitted on all counts along with fellow KLA veterans Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj. The Office of the Prosecutor appealed their acquittals, resulting in the ICTY ordering a partial retrial. On 29 November 2012 all three were acquitted for the second time on all charges.<ref name="Haradinaj cleared">{{cite news|title=Kosovo ex-PM Ramush Haradinaj cleared of war crimes|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20536318|access-date=29 November 2012|work=BBC News|date=29 November 2012}}</ref> The trials were rife with accusations of witness intimidation, as media outlets from several different countries wrote that as many as nineteen people who were supposed to be witnesses in the trial against Haradinaj were murdered (the ICTY disputed these reports).<ref>{{cite web |title=ICTY prosecution denies claims of murder of witnesses in Haradinaj case |url=http://daily.tportal.hr/228890/ICTY-prosecution-denies-claims-of-murder-of-witnesses-in-Haradinaj-case.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217173914/http://daily.tportal.hr/228890/ICTY-prosecution-denies-claims-of-murder-of-witnesses-in-Haradinaj-case.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 February 2013 }}</ref>

According to [[Human Rights Watch]] (HRW), "800 non-Albanian civilians were kidnapped and murdered from 1998 to 1999". After the war, "479 people have gone missing... most of them Serbs".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/12/15/kosovo/albania-investigate-alleged-kla-crimes |title=Kosovo/Albania: Investigate Alleged KLA Crimes|date=15 December 2010|website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref> HRW notes that "the intent behind many of the killings and abductions that have occurred in the province since June 1999 appears to be the expulsion of Kosovo's Serb and Roma population rather than a desire for revenge alone. In numerous cases, direct and systematic efforts were made to force Serbs and Roma to leave their homes."{{sfn|Abrahams|2001|p=455}} Some 200,000 Serbs and Roma fled Kosovo following the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces.<ref>{{cite web |title=South-East Europe and Kosovo: Evaluation of the humanitarian situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, particularly in Kosovo and Montenegro |url=http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewHTML.asp?FileID=8776 |website=assembly.coe.int |publisher=Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe |date=18 September 1999}}</ref>

In April 2014, the [[Assembly of Kosovo]] considered and approved the establishment of a [[Kosovo Relocated Specialist Judicial Institution|special court]] to try cases involving crimes and other serious abuses committed in 1999–2000 by members of the KLA.<ref name=announcementNL>{{cite web|work=[[Government of the Netherlands]]|url=https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2016/01/15/kosovo-court-to-be-established-in-the-hague|title=Kosovo court to be established in The Hague|date=15 January 2016|access-date=16 January 2016}}</ref> Reports of abuses and war crimes committed by the KLA during and after the conflict include massacres of civilians, prison camps, burning and looting of homes and destruction of medieval churches and monuments.<ref name=hrw1>[https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword.htm Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. executive summary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013010444/https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/undword.htm |date=13 October 2017 }}. hrw.org (2001)</ref>

[[Carla Del Ponte]] said that the US for political reasons, did not want the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|ICTY]] to scrutinise war crimes committed by the KLA. According to her, [[Madeleine Albright]] who was the Secretary of State at the time told her to proceed slowly with the investigation of [[Ramush Haradinaj]] to avoid unrest in Kosovo.<ref>{{cite news |title=I Keep Telling Myself that Justice Will Prevail |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/former-chief-prosecutor-carla-del-ponte-i-keep-telling-myself-that-justice-will-prevail-a-21b02282-89d5-4e7b-b32c-ab16bc1b778b |access-date=25 June 2021 |publisher=Spiegel}}</ref>

===By NATO forces===
[[File:Memorial in Tašmajdan park (DSC04689).jpg|thumb|right|230px|A monument to the [[Civilian casualties during Operation Allied Force|children killed]] in the NATO bombing located in [[Tašmajdan Park]], [[Belgrade]], featuring a bronze sculpture of [[Milica Rakić]]]]
The Yugoslav government and a number of international pressure groups (e.g., [[Amnesty International]]) claimed that NATO had carried out war crimes during the conflict, notably the bombing of the Serbian TV headquarters in Belgrade on 23 April 1999, where 16 people were killed and 16 more were injured. Sian Jones of Amnesty stated, "The bombing of the headquarters of Serbian state radio and television was a deliberate attack on a civilian object and as such constitutes a war crime".<ref name="SDT23409">{{cite news |last1=Stojanovic |first1=Dusan |title=Amnesty: NATO bombing of Serbian TV 'war crime' |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-eu-serbia-nato-bombing-042309-2009apr23-story.html |access-date=28 May 2023 |work=San Diego Tribune |agency=AP |date=23 April 2009}}</ref> A report conducted by the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia|ICTY]] entitled ''Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Review the NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia'' concluded that, "Insofar as the attack actually was aimed at disrupting the communications network, it was legally acceptable" and that, "NATO's targeting of the [[Radio Television of Serbia|RTS]] building for propaganda purposes was an incidental (albeit complementary) aim of its primary goal of disabling the Serbian military command and control system and to destroy the nerve system and apparatus that keeps Milosević in power."<ref name=ICTYReport /> In regards to civilian casualties, it further stated that though they were, "unfortunately high, they do not appear to be clearly disproportionate."<ref name=ICTYReport />