Albanians arrested at Horgos suspected of taking part in the 1999 abduction and murder of Serb Marko Jelic in Orahovac

Two Albanians arrested at the Horgos border crossing, H. E. (49) and B. E. (52), are suspected of having participated, as members of the KLA, in the abduction and murder of Serb civilian Marko Jelic in Orahovac in August 1999, Vecernje Novosti reports.

They are charged with a war crime against the civilian population. It is alleged that on August 9, 1999, in Orahovac, acting together with several other KLA members and using physical force, firearms, and serious threats to life, they abducted Marko Jelic, a Serb civilian, and took him in an unknown direction. He has not been seen since; his trail vanished, and he is still listed as a missing person.

The abduction and murder of Marko Jelic from his home in Orahovac is also part of the indictment against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi, and Rexhep Selimi before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. They are accused of 43 unlawful detentions of 407 detainees, the vast majority of whom were Serbs, with at least 102 unquestionably killed.

That indictment states that Jelic was last seen in KLA detention and that his family members were harassed for days after his abduction. His father was beaten, his mother and wife mistreated, and their property destroyed and looted.

Marko’s wife, Stamena, testified via video link in October last year at the trial of Thaçi and the other three former KLA leaders. She recounted that on August 9, while she and her husband were at home with their two- and three-year-old children, three KLA members entered—two in uniform and one in civilian clothing. All appeared to be about 20 years old, and they took Marko away. She said the same men returned a few days later, demanding money in exchange for his release. According to her, they were from Orahovac, and she recognized one by his surname, Bugari, as he had lived in their neighborhood.

She also said her mother-in-law went to KLA commander in Orahovac, Ismet Tara, begging him to release her son, but nothing came of it.

In her testimony, Stamena Jelic noted that before Marko’s abduction, in June 1999, the KLA had abducted several other Serbs from their neighborhood in Orahovac, holding them in the local police station and firehouse. The only body later found was that of the murdered Panta Grkovic.

Before his abduction, Marko Jelic worked as a translator for OSCE representative Frank Ledwidge. His family reported the abduction both to Ledwidge and to KFOR. Stamena said that Ledwidge later helped them leave Kosovo for Montenegro, and they went on to live in Berane.

“What we would most like is to know what happened to Marko, to at least find some remains so we can bury him with dignity, to know where he is, so we can go there and cry when things are hard,” Stamena Jelic told the court.