Prishtina Basic Court, on Thursday, found former Serbian fighter Cedomir Aksic guilty of involvement in killings, expulsion and destroying of property during the Kosovo war.

Under the first-instance verdict, which can be appealed, Aksic was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Aksic’s trial represents the first war crime case in Kosovo that has been held in the absence of the defendant.

The trial of Cedomir Aksic opened at Prishtina Basic Court in December last year.

Aksic was accused of murder, causing suffering, injuries and damage to property, as well as ordering the expulsion of civilians. He’s accused of committing the crimes in the municipality of Shtime/Stimlje in 1999.

The prosecution alleged that Aksic, together with a criminal enterprise involving other, unknown individuals, ordered the expulsion of local residents from the municipality of Shtime/Stimlje and the surrounding villages of Mollopolc, Recak and Petrove in April 1999.

The accused also participated in executions and the destruction of the houses of four brothers, Ruzhdi, Sadri, Rexhep and Hamdi Jashari, causing damage worth 300,000 euros, the indictment alleges.

Prosecutors further claim that on May 13-14, 1999, in the village of Petrove in the Shtime/Stimlje municipality, Aksic shot dead an ethnic Albanian man, Halil Hysenaj.

On January 15, 1999, Aksic, together with the group, also participated in the murder of several individuals during the attacks on Albanian civilians in the village of Recak, the indictment claimed.

A man called Hajriz Brahimi was trying to escape when Aksic and the other unknown individuals shot and killed him. They also killed brothers Haki, Sabri and Arif Murati, and then Ahmet Mustafa, Sadik Mujota and his daughter Hanumshahe Mujota, it is alleged.

Another victim, Skender Halili, was shot in the leg and then, after he fell, was shot again to ensure that he was dead. Another resident of the village, Mehmet Mustafa, was killed in the yard of his house, the indictment claims.

In 2019, in an attempt to boost prosecutions of war crimes, the Kosovo Assembly adopted an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code to allow trials in absentia in cases involving the offences against international humanitarian law and international criminal law that were committed between January 1990 and June 1999.

The amendments were mostly intended to deal with cases of war crimes committed during the 1998-99 conflict.

According to the amendments, the court can decide to continue with someone’s trial in their absence if all judicial means to locate the defendant have been exhausted.