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UÇKHistory and Memory

1–2 April 1999 · 1999

The killings in Gjakova's Qerim neighbourhood

On the night of 1–2 April 1999, during a police operation in Gjakova's Qerim neighbourhood, 20 people, mostly women and children, were shot or died when Lulzim Vejsa's house was set on fire; other residents were killed the same night.
Evidence status: Judicially established. Established in a final court judgment. It covers only what the court found, not every later interpretation.The 1998–1999 warCrimes
Two black-and-white aerial photos of a neighbourhood: intact buildings above, damaged buildings marked with arrows below.
Aerial 'before and after' assessment photographs of destroyed buildings in Gjakova, used by the U.S. Department of Defense at a press briefing, April 1999.Photo: DoD photo · 1999-04-26 · Domen publik (Public domain)

Content warning

This material describes violence, death or loss. Read it when you are ready; you can close it at any time.

Photographs

View from above of a cemetery complex with rows of white graves and paved paths.
The martyrs' graveyard of the 1998–1999 war in Gjakova, photographed from the air on 5 June 2022.Photo: Arianit · 2022-06-05 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sources

  1. [1]Tribunali Penal Ndërkombëtar për ish-Jugosllavinë (ICTY). Prosecutor v. Milutinović et al., Judgement, Vol. 2 of 4. 2009-02-26. IT-05-87-T. https://www.icty.org/x/cases/milutinovic/tjug/en/jud090226-e2of4.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16. — para. 148
  2. [2]Tribunali Penal Ndërkombëtar për ish-Jugosllavinë (ICTY). Prosecutor v. Vlastimir Đorđević, Public Judgement with Confidential Annex. 2011-02-23. IT-05-87/1-T. https://www.icty.org/x/cases/djordjevic/tjug/en/110223_djordjevic_judgt_en.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16. — paras 880–901
  3. [3]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

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