A special court in Kosovo has sentenced Ivica Rajković and Dragan Denić to 15 years in prison each for war crimes, including the rape of a civilian during the 1999 conflict, officials said on Monday.
The defendants, both former police officers in Pristina, were tried and convicted in absentia by the Basic Court’s Special Department in Pristina, after evading arrest for years. The court found them guilty of conflict-related sexual violence committed in May 1999, during the Kosovo war.
“The two accused were identified by the victim as part of a group of six individuals who committed the crime,” the court said in its ruling. “Only Rajković and Denić were positively identified.”
Although witnesses testified that the pair also engaged in other war crimes, including torture, looting, and mistreatment, those charges were not included in this specific indictment.
The assault took place on the outskirts of Pristina, and the trial marks one of several ongoing efforts to prosecute wartime sexual violence in Kosovo, which remains under-addressed decades after the conflict ended.
This is the third conviction for wartime sexual violence in Kosovo to date. In previous cases, Zoran Vukotić was sentenced to 13 years in one trial and acquitted in another, while Živojin Nesić, also known as “Žika,” was sentenced to 15 years.
Kosovo authorities continue to face difficulties arresting individuals accused of wartime atrocities, particularly those believed to be residing outside the country.