Serbia Orders One Month of Detention for Dugagjin Maxhuni Over Alleged War Crimes

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić has announced that Serbian authorities have arrested a person suspected of committing war crimes against the civilian population in Kosovo in 1999.

According to Dačić, the suspect is a 47-year-old man with the initials D.M., who was detained at the Batrovci border crossing. He has been remanded in custody for one month.

In a statement, Dačić said there were reasonable grounds to suspect that the arrested man had committed a criminal offense against the civilian population, targeting members of two families in June 1999 in the village of Bec, in the municipality of Gjakova.

Although the Serbian minister published only the detainee’s initials, Kosovo lawyer Arianit Koci had announced a day earlier that the man was Dugagjin Maxhuni, 47, from Bec in Gjakova.

Radio Free Europe has requested information about the case from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora but has not yet received a response.

In response to an inquiry from Radio Free Europe, the Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans’ Organization confirmed that Dugagjin Maxhuni is on the list of people who hold veteran status.

Serbian authorities have repeatedly arrested Kosovo citizens, accusing them of alleged war crimes committed in Kosovo during 1998-’99.

In Kosovo, dozens of Serbs have also been detained in recent years on suspicion of war crimes. Some of these cases have ended in convictions.

Maxhuni’s case is the second arrest carried out by Serbia in August over allegations related to war crimes in Kosovo. On August 2, a man was arrested at the border between Serbia and Hungary.

Lawyer Koci had stated that the person detained in that case was Mentor Mustafa, a 44-year-old Kosovo citizen from Novobërda. He was also remanded in custody for one month.