Alija: The goal of the agreement with Montenegro is to gather evidence of war crimes in Kosovo

A lawyer from Pristina, Amer Alija from the Humanitarian Law Center, says that the Kosovo Institute for War Crimes aims to collect evidence of crimes committed in Kosovo from across the region. He told Kosovo Online that cooperation has already been established with Albania and North Macedonia, and that the latest step in this direction is the agreement with Montenegro’s Ministry for Human and Minority Rights.

“The Institute for War Crimes, based in Pristina, was established in mid-2023. Its goal is to collect all available material evidence of crimes committed during the war in Kosovo – both from state institutions and from sources such as media, non-governmental organizations, and individuals,” Alija said.

He states that the agreement with Montenegro also includes the exchange of information and potentially obtaining evidence related to wartime events.

“It is quite certain that Montenegro possesses certain data about refugees, about events and crimes that occurred during the war in Kosovo. The then-Yugoslav Army was made up of units from Serbia and Montenegro, and every document, recording, or testimony that can be obtained from that country has value,” he noted.

According to him, the Institute has already been in contact for several months with Albania and North Macedonia, with the goal of collecting all relevant evidence from the region in a single archive center in Pristina.

Since Kosovo does not have official cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina, an agreement was signed with the Srebrenica Memorial Center.

“That is why the Institute is trying to establish connections with certain organizations. The goal is to gather evidence from all possible institutions related to crimes committed during the war in Kosovo,” he added.

He emphasized that reconciliation would greatly benefit from the entire region, including Serbia, participating in the exchange of evidence.

“It would be good to have normal regional cooperation, to have an exchange of information and evidence, and to ensure that those who committed crimes are prosecuted. If nothing else, at least the facts should be established based on the evidence, the number of victims, regardless of whether they are Albanians, Serbs, or others. So that for every person it is known exactly what happened, or for every crime committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia,” Alija emphasized.