The Victims Speak

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002
There have been three of them now: all men, all farmers, all Kosovo Albanian Muslims from small villages testifying against the former leader whom they hold responsible for the burnings, lootings, murders and deportations that defined Kosovo in 1999 — and still define their lives. They refuse to look at the once omnipotent Milosevic; in a show of disrespect, they turn their backs on the man they never considered their leader.

The first victim to testify was 49-year-old Agim Zeqiri. He described how Serb forces attacked his village on March 25, 1999, the day after NATO began bombing Yugoslavia. After Serb forces started torching neighborhoods, Zeqiri says he fled with his family and some neighbors to a nearby stream. He and another man left the women and children hiding in a ravine. That, he says, was the last time he saw them. After being severely beaten in the head and kidneys by men with painted black faces, Zeqiri says he was forced to flee to Albania. It was there, he said, that he heard the news. "My cousin in Germany called and told me to be brave because your family and my family have all been killed," he testified. Zeqiri lost his entire family — four daughters, a son, his wife and 10 other relatives. The youngest, he said, was just a year-and-a-half old.

Zeqiri is one of the so-called "deportation" witnesses. Prosecutors say that Milosevic used his forces to terrorize 800,000 ethnic Albanians into leaving Kosovo. Zeqiri told the court he never intended to leave his village. "It was my hometown, the place of my fathers and forefathers," he said. "We left to save the children . . . We didn't know things would come to that pass. Who knew that they would kill 75 persons from my village?"

Milosevic never questioned Zeqiri about the killings. Instead, he focused on the 300 Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members who Zeqiri says were given food and clothing by people in his village. Milosevic attempted to paint his troops as defending themselves against Albanian terrorists. "So where was this KLA you supported at the time your village was surrounded?" he asked Zeqiri. Time and again, Zeqiri said he did not know, that he only saw Serb forces shooting civilians.

If Milosevic was planning to ask him about the murder of his family, he never got the chance. Returning to the witness stand Thursday morning, Zeqiri said he was too sick to continue. To this day, he says he still suffers from his kidney injuries. Judges dismissed him, prompting Milosevic to accuse the court of purposefully "having the witness removed, who were unsuccessful and told untruths." Zeqiri didn't hear that; he'd already left the courtroom.

"It was really ridiculous that somebody who lost his entire family had to answer the questions of the person who he thinks is responsible for that crime ... Really awful to see how Milosevic was, in a way, raping him again and asking the questions," says Augustine Palakoj, a Kosovo Albanian journalist. "I think this tribunal really wants to show it is impartial and is fair to Milosevic, but I think they have to care a little bit more, be fair also, to the witness, especially to the victims."

The next one to testify was Fehim Elshani, a 67-year-old accountant who says he became a farmer after he refused to sign a loyalty oath to the Serbian state and was fired from his job. He recounted how his village was shelled, torched, and looted by Milosevic's troops. After being grilled by Milosevic, Elshani accused the former President of provoking him. He insisted that Milosevic's men killed civilians. Pointing his finger but still not looking at Milosevic, he said, "How can you say nothing happened? You burned three elderly women. It is unimaginable the things that you have done."

Elshani testified that Serb forces stole their money and took away all their identification before letting them flee to Albania. The Serbs, he said, were making good on their promise, repeated often in Milosevic's own media, to seek revenge on Kosovo's Albanians in the event of NATO air strikes. When Milosevic suggested that his troops were simply protecting fleeing ethnic Albanians from NATO's bombs and from fights between the Yugoslav army and the KLA, steering them away from combat areas, Elshani smiled. "If that is what you call help, what would the other be?"