DOSIJE: Rudnica
DOSSIER: Rudnica

Author(s): Sandra Orlović
Contributor(s): Nemanja Stjepanović (Editor)
Subject(s): Law and Transitional Justice, Peace and Conflict Studies, Wars in Jugoslavia
Published by: Fond za humanitarno pravo
Keywords: mass-graves; ex-humation;facing the past;mass graves; Exhumation and identification of bodies; Crimes against civilians;
Summary/Abstract: The mass grave in Rudnica is the first mass grave in Serbia to be discovered since the end of the ICTY's mandate to investigate crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Three mass graves with the bodies of 889 Kosovo Albanians, mostly civilians, were discovered in the spring of 2001 at three locations in Serbia - in the Belgrade suburb of Batajnica, in Petrovo Selo (eastern Serbia) and near Lake Perucac (western Serbia). In the Sainovic et al. and Djordjevic cases, the ICTY established facts about the circumstances of the killings of most civilians whose remains were exhumed from these three locations. According to ICTY verdicts, these crimes were committed as part of a joint criminal enterprise aimed at establishing effective control of the Serbian authorities over Kosovo by changing the ethnic balance and expelling Albanians from Kosovo. Also, the ICTY found that the key role in transporting and hiding corpses in the mentioned graves was played by the MUP, and that the VJ independently, or in cooperation with the MUP, participated in the collection of corpses in the field. // As no evidence has been presented to the ICTY on the crimes in which civilians found in Rudnica were killed, nor on the circumstances in which their bodies were hidden, the aim of this dossier is to make public information and evidence on the responsibility of VJ and MUP members for killing Kosovo Albanians whose remains were found in Rudnica, as well as data and evidence that indicate the participants in the operation of moving and hiding their bodies in a secret location. // The data used to create this dossier come from two basic sources. The first source is witnesses - survivors, family members of victims and eyewitnesses of crimes who gave statements to the HLC and the HLC Kosovo about the events that preceded the crimes, the circumstances of the crime, the perpetrators, their uniforms, weapons, equipment, removal of victims, etc. Another source is authentic military and police documents presented in the form of evidence in the two mentioned cases before the ICTY.3 These are orders for combat operations, defense, combat control of the territory, "rehabilitation of the battlefield", regular combat reports, control of movements within a certain area, the census of civilians, the deployment of police units in the area, etc. In addition to official documents of the VJ and MUP, the file relies on the testimony of VJ officers and MUP officials before the ICTY, Ministry of Defense newspaper - magazine " Army ", geographical maps and other sources.

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