A witness says one of the accused members of Serbian paramilitary group was at work at the time the crimes were committed in Kosovo village in 1999.
Slavica Bjelanovic, witness for the defence in the case „Cuska“, and a colleague of the indictee Zvonimir Cvetkovic, says he was working full time in the firm DDR Trans Pec during the NATO bombing in Kosovo, at the trail held on Monday.
“We were obliged to work during the bombardments. We worked full time, each day. During that period Cvetkovic was working as well,” Bjelanovic said.
“As far as I know, he never missed a day of work in those months,” she added.
Zvonimir Cvetkovic, together with twelve former members of Serbian paramilitary formation Jackals, is indicted for the war crimes against civilians in the village of Cuska, near Kosovo town of Pec on May 14, 1999.
According to the indictment, the thirteen alleged former Jackal members on trial are charged with the murder of 43 Albanians, looting, and destroying the property of civilians in Kosovo.
The attack on Cuska came in the midst of the conflict in Kosovo between Serbian security forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army, and the trial is one of the biggest war crimes cases to be heard in a Belgrade court.
According to the indictment, following the attack, over 400 villagers, including women, children and elderly, left their homes. Before the conflict, Cuska had some 2000 inhabitants, mostly ethnic Albanian.
One of the murdered victims in Cuska was Hasan Ceku, the father of former Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku.
The trial will continue on Tuesday.
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Timeline of events in the case against 13 former Serb fighters charged with committing war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac, Ljubenic and Pavlac in Kosovo in 1999.