Dubrava Prison: NATO and the Executions

In 1999, there were around 1.030 Albanian prisoners in Dubrava Prison – convicted, persons brought from pre-trial detention and others deprived of their liberty – as well as 40 Serbian prisoners organized into groups to perform special tasks and six prisoners who were Albanian citizens.

In June 1998, by decision of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, the prisoners were evacuated from the Dubrava Correctional Institution (KPZ Dubrava), and the prison was taken over by members of the Special Operations Unit (JSO). The entire complex was used by them until the end of 1998.

On an unspecified date, before the start of the NATO bombing, Dragoljub Janković, Minister of Justice in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and Zoran Stevanović, Deputy Minister of Justice and Head of the Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Sanctions, sent a written order to the heads of correctional-penal institutions and heads of investigative prisons in the Republic of Serbia that all Albanian prisoners be transferred to the Dubrava Correctional Facility.

Before the transfer of Albanian prisoners, in March 1999, the transfer of about 40 Serbian prisoners convicted of murder, drug trafficking and other serious criminal offenses was organized at the Dubrava Prison.

According to the data from the criminal complaint that anonymous guards filed in 2008 with the President and Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, as well as with the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office, against two advisors to the Minister of Justice, the director of the Dubrava Correctional Facility and the head of the security service, the selected group of Serbian prisoners was accompanied by weapons: 39 automatic rifles and 12 machine guns, hand grenades and grenade launchers. It is alleged that the weapons were brought by the Minister's advisors, accompanied by members of the Special Operations Unit (JSO).

By mid-May, between 300 and 400 Albanian prisoners, mainly political prisoners, but also those convicted of economic crimes, robbery and murder, were transferred from prisons in central Serbia to the Dubrava Correctional Facility. A large group of prisoners from the Niš prison, including Professor Ukshin Hoti, was transferred on 29 April 1999.

The last group of 150 Albanians, almost all civilians, with a police detention order, was transferred to the Dubrava Detention Center on 17 May 1999. They had been arrested during the period 1–10 May 1999 in the Çabrat neighborhood and other parts of Gjakova, when a total of around 300 Albanians were arrested. After interrogation and beatings, around 150 of them were released, while another 150 were held for several days in various facilities and then, since there was no room in the Peja District Court prison, for two days in the basement of businessman Sali Nimani in Peja, to be transferred later, on 17 May, to the Dubrava Detention Center.

After the transfer of persons deprived of liberty from Gjakova, the Dubrava Prison housed around 1.030 Albanian prisoners – convicted, persons brought from pre-trial detention and others deprived of liberty – as well as 40 Serbian prisoners organized into groups to perform special tasks and six Albanian citizen prisoners.

NATO bombing

Around noon on May 19, 1999, an explosion was heard from the direction of the administration building. In total, four bombs fell – one on the administration building, two on Block C, and another on the neighboring block. The guards fled, leaving the prisoners locked up. On the second floor, known as the “corridor,” at least three prisoners were killed, while many others were injured.

On May 21, 1999, at around 11:00, the prison was bombed again. That day, the guards and the prison administration settled the prisoners in the prison yard. The first bombs fell on the prison canteen and kitchen, then on the reception building where 167 prisoners from Gjakova were held. The bombing continued throughout the day, including the sports hall and other facilities. According to the testimonies of the prisoners, 19 prisoners were killed during the second NATO attack.

Prison under the control of special police

On May 22, 1999, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia handed over control of the prison to special police units. This was followed by mass killings of Albanian prisoners.

During the trial of Slobodan Milošević, a letter from the director of the Dubrava Prison, Aleksandar Rakočević, addressed to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia, was made public:

“On May 22, 1999, at around 05:00, a special unit of the Ministry of Interior arrived and entered the closed part of the institution, while on their order the security service employees withdrew to a wider ring around the perimeter wall. We do not know what they did there, but explosions were heard. The same unit of the Ministry of Interior arrived again at around 17:00 and on May 23 at around 05:00.”
Chronology of deaths

An Albanian prisoner, serving an 18-month prison sentence for acting as an armed guard in his village, suffered a heart attack on April 9, 1999, while, together with other prisoners, he was removing coal from the storage room near the prison boiler. The two Albanian prisoners were missing after their release from Dubrava prison on May 16, 1999. Professor Ukshin Hoti's sentence was due to end on May 17, 1999.

Two prisoners were killed upon release, shortly after leaving Dubrava prison, on May 16, 1999.
A Bosniak, in police custody, was killed on May 20, 1999, on the sports field by a bullet fired from the guard tower.

In NATO airstrikes on May 19 and 21, 1999, 24 Albanian prisoners and the deputy director of Dubrava prison lost their lives.

During the night between 21 and 22 May 1999, armed Serbian guards, wardens and prisoners killed nine Albanian prisoners who were trying to escape through openings created in the prison wall by the bombing.

An Albanian prisoner committed suicide by hanging on May 22, 1999, after hearing that prisoners were to be transferred to the Niš prison. He had been brought to Dubrava from Niš, where, according to the testimonies of prisoners who knew him, he had been exposed to severe mistreatment.

At 6:30 a.m. on May 22, 1999, a policeman with a megaphone, from the guard tower, addressed the prisoners:

“We will transfer you to Niš prison, for your personal safety.”

At around 6:00, the same policeman and two guards addressed the prisoners again:

"You have ten more minutes to line up and get ready."

There were about 800 prisoners on the sports field in front of the guard towers, while the others were hidden in the buildings.

A few seconds after the formation, hand grenades began to fall, and immediately afterwards, fire was opened with bazookas, hand grenade launchers and various types of light weapons – semi-automatic rifles, machine guns and other rifles. The shots came from the direction of the guard towers, from the outer wall and from points damaged during NATO bombing. Only the barrels of automatic rifles could be seen in the openings in the wall.

Members of the special police, with the help of armed Serbian prisoners and prison guards, killed sixty Albanian prisoners on May 22, 1999.

The next day, May 23, 1999, members of the special police killed nine Albanian prisoners who were hiding in manholes, sewer pipes, and the prison boiler room – using grenades and firearms at close range.

After the transfer of prisoners from Dubrava prison to Lipjan prison on May 24, 1999, an Albanian prisoner was beaten to death. A prison guard at the time was convicted of his murder.

An Albanian prisoner, who had one leg in a cast and the other covered in wounds from NATO bombings, was beaten to death on June 10, 1999, in front of the Pozarevac prison. He could not get off the bus on which Albanian prisoners from Kosovo had been transferred to Serbia, so one of the guards dragged him and threw him to the ground. The guards kicked him, beat him with clubs and other means. He died that same day. He was buried in the Muslim cemetery in Pozarevac, then exhumed and, with the organization of the International Committee of the Red Cross, his remains were handed over to his family.

An Albanian prisoner, wounded on 21 May 1999 during the second NATO bombing of the prison, died from his wounds between 1 and 6 June 1999 in Pristina hospital.

An Albanian prisoner died on July 11, 1999 in Niš prison. The family was informed that he had died of illness.

An Albanian prisoner with mental problems died in the Sremska Mitrovica prison on August 4, 1999. He had been injured on May 22, 1999, when police and guards killed 60 Albanian prisoners. He refused treatment from Serbian doctors.

An Albanian prisoner, wounded on May 22, 1999, when police and guards killed 60 Albanian prisoners, died on August 8, 1999, in the hospital of the Central Prison in Belgrade. The International Committee of the Red Cross informed the family that he had died of a heart attack.

Accused of terrorism

Among the victims at the Dubrava Correctional Facility, 91 people were convicted, accused or in police custody for the criminal offences of terrorism and association for hostile activities. Among them, in addition to 63 KLA members, there were also 28 civilians, including nine civilians from the group of 150 Albanians transferred from Gjakova on 17 May 1999.

The courts, in first instance proceedings, generally confirmed the allegations in the indictments. Those accused of the criminal offence of association for hostile activities were charged with having become members of a “KLA terrorist gang”, aiding the KLA, digging trenches and bunkers, building forest roads, acting as guards and monitoring the movements of members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Yugoslav Army.

For the criminal offense of terrorism, they were charged with participating in the creation of “terrorist groups as part of the KLA terrorist organization” with the aim of seceding Kosovo from Serbia and the FRY, securing and transporting weapons from Albania, organizing ambushes against members of the Serbian MUP and the Yugoslav Army, and committing acts of violence to create a sense of insecurity among members of Serbian and Montenegrin nationality, as well as Albanians loyal to the Republic of Serbia and the FRY. Sentences ranged from several months to 15 years in prison.

Professor Ukshin Hoti was the only one accused of violating the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In all cases of defendants for the criminal offenses of conspiracy to commit hostile activity and terrorism, the so-called “paraffin glove” test was used to determine the presence of nitrates and nitrites on the hands and clothing as evidence that the defendant had fired a gun. Convictions were also given when a positive test result was the only evidence, as well as in cases where the expert claimed that the nitrate and nitrite particles did not originate from gunpowder.

Prisoner cemeteries

After the war, on a hill in the village of Rakosh, a few kilometers from the Dubrava military prison, a cemetery with 96 individual graves and one grave with two bodies was discovered. The exhumations were carried out by a Spanish forensic team. Each grave was clearly distinguishable due to the raised soil and was marked with a wooden plaque containing the burial details, the serial number and the date that, according to the claims, coincided with the day of burial.

Ante-mortem analysis and identification of the bodies continued until 26 August, when the identification of 42 bodies was completed. The identification was carried out by recognizing the clothing on display and examining photographs of the remains. After the departure of the Spanish team, exhibitions of clothing removed from the bodies of the buried prisoners, marked with numbers, were organized so that the families could continue the identification of the remains.

Trial of dead Albanian prisoners

Zahir Agushi and Agim Elshani lost their lives on May 21, 1999, during the second NATO bombing of the Dubrava military base.

Nine months after their deaths, on 1 February 2000, the Trial Panel of the Leskovac District Court, presided over by Judge Goran Petronijević, pronounced a verdict against Zahir Agushi and Agim Elshan for the criminal offense of terrorism and aiding and abetting the perpetrators after the commission of the criminal offense.

On June 8, 2000, the Supreme Court of Serbia upheld the first-instance verdict.

Hysen Ademi was killed on May 22, 1999, when guards, wardens, and police opened fire on prisoners in the sports field, who had previously been ordered to line up for transfer.

Eight months after his death, the Trial Panel of the Leskovac District Court, presided over by Judge Goran Petronijević, sentenced Hysen Ademi to 15 years in prison on January 10, 2000 for the criminal offense of terrorism.

Metë Osmanaj was killed on May 22, 1999, when guards, wardens, and policemen fired from the watchtowers and walls onto the lined-up prisoners.

The Trial Panel of the Leskovac District Court, presided over by Judge Brankica Dašić, sentenced Metë Osmanaj to four years in prison for the criminal offense of association for hostile activities related to terrorism.

Criminal complaint against the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Serbia

The Humanitarian Law Center filed a criminal complaint on May 28, 2010 against Dragoljub Jankovic, Zoran Stevanovic, Obrad Stevanovic, Bora Vlahovic and 30 other individuals for war crimes against the civilian population – the murder of Albanian prisoners in Dubrava prison.

After 27 years

Two prison guards have been convicted in Kosovo – Zoran Kolić, in 2013, for the murder of an Albanian prisoner, and Dragisa Milenković, in 2025, for the beating and mistreatment of Albanian prisoners transferred from Dubrava to Lipjan.

At the same time, the Basic Court in Pristina acquitted Gavrilo Milosavljevic in 2025 of war crime charges related to the murders and mistreatment of prisoners in Dubrava, due to lack of evidence.

It is known that the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Serbia, following the report of the Humanitarian Law Center, had launched investigations, had questioned more than 150 people, including the then Minister of Justice, had collected important documentation and evidence, but, under political pressure, gave up on prosecuting the persons responsible for the murder of Albanian prisoners.

*The article is taken from: pescanik.net - Translated by KDP