The Prishtina Basic Court on Tuesday sentenced Zivojin Nesic to 15 years’ imprisonment for the rape of an ethnic Albanian woman during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

“The evidence of the injured party is supported by the testimonies of eyewitnesses A.A., H.A., and H.H., from which the court has established that Zivojin Nesic, using physical and psychological violence and inhumane actions, committed sexual violence against an ethnic Albanian woman,” judge Violeta Namani-Hajra said, giving the verdict.

The time Nesic spent in detention since March 5, 2024 will be deducted from the sentence.

The judge explained that the victim had identified Nesic to the Commission for the Investigation and Detection of War Crimes, the police, prosecution and the court. The trial was held behind closed doors to protect her identity.

The verdict can be appealed.

A Prishtina-based NGO, the Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims, welcomed the verdict. “The survivor in this case was referred to the Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (KRCT) by Ms Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman,” it noted on Facebook.

Krasniqi Goodman is one of the few survivors of sexual abuse by Serbian police during the Kosovo war to come forward publicly.

The KRCT said that it had “provided continuous support, both psychological and legal, from the early stages through to the conclusion of the judicial process” against Nesic.

“This conviction represents a significant step in the fight against impunity and sends a powerful message: war crimes are not forgotten,” the KRCT wrote, emphasising that it is only the second sentence for wartime rape in Kosovo.

In November 2022, a Serb ex-policeman, Zoran Vukotic, was sentenced to ten years in prison for committing rape and participating in the expulsions of ethnic Albanian civilians from the town of Vushtrri/Vucitrn during the war in May 1999.

Few wartime rape survivors in Kosovo have spoken publicly because of the social stigma surrounding sexual abuse.

In April, Ramadan Nishori became the first man in Kosovo to speak out openly about surviving sexual abuse during the Kosovo war. In June, at the International Forum on Women, Peace and Security in Prishtina, he said that four other men have sought the support of NGOs since his public testimony.