EVIDENCE STATEMENT
FOR THE SHELLING OF THE SERBIAN ARMY ON UNPROTECTED CIVILIAN SETTLEMENTS IN THE “QENAR QESHME” NEIGHBORHOOD ON 28.03.1999, WHICH WAS SUBMITTED TO THE DISTRICT COURT IN GJILAN AFTER THE WAR BUT HAS NOT YET BEEN PROSECUTED BY ANYONE
Written by: Isuf B. Bajrami
With the beginning of NATO bombing (on March 24, 1999) on Serbian army targets in Kosovo, a hope for life and imminent freedom began for the defenseless population in Kosovo. At the same time, the terror and fear of the Albanian civilian population began, which remained at the mercy of Serbian paramilitary and military-police forces.
Since the first day of NATO bombing of Serbian Army targets in the Municipality of Gjilan, the defenseless Albanian population in most villages of Karadak such as Livoq i Ulët, Livoq i Epërm, Cernica, Pasjak, Bresalcë, Përlepnicë, Shillovë, Malishevë, Uglare, Pogragjë, Velekincë, Llashticë, Lladovë, Zhegër, etc. were ordered by Serbian paramilitary forces to vacate these settlements.
On 27. 03. 1999 before evening, the Serbian police commander for the “Qenar Qeshme” neighborhood, Vitomir Iliqi, from the village of Kormijan, KK Kamenicë, residing in the Kamnik neighborhood (social housing), was passing by the house of Ramadan Azemi from the village of Suharne. He knocked on the window of his house and when Mixha Ramë came out with his wife, Iliqi said to him; “… tomorrow there will be bombings in the “Qenar Qeshme” neighborhood!!!”. This has to do with the observation of a group of Serbian Army officers, who with a NIVA type vehicle (there were three people) observed our neighborhood. The observation was a week before the bombings, who observed the “Bregu i Diellit” neighborhood and the “Qenar Qeshme” neighborhood for three consecutive days.
On 28.03.1999 at 22:00, the Serbian police commander for “Qenar Qeshme”, Vitomir Iliqi, together with two people, came near the entrance door of the house of Hetem Murtezi (father of Hajdin Murtezi and Ukshin Ajdini). He surveyed the terrain (the houses of Hetem and the sons of Ukshin and Ajdini) with the aim of finding out where the extended family members were and in which house they were.
Hetemi’s son, Ukshin, together with his aunt’s son Ahmet Halili, residing in the village of Zhegër, Gjilan Municipality, was sheltering with his family (three children and his wife). At the aforementioned time, they had gone out to the door of his father’s house and at that moment they encountered an unknown civilian (he was wearing jeans and a gray sweater). He had tried to open the door of the courtyard, but at that moment he had seen Ukshin and Ahmet. He had pulled back and a few meters from there, he had fallen into a sandy place. He had stayed there for two or three minutes and then stood up to leave. On the occasion of leaving, he joined the police commander Vitomir Iliqi in a place further away. Iliqi with these two unknown persons then continued on the road and about 100 meters on the upper road that has the entrance to the cemetery, with these three three other unknown persons came! !
They sat down and talked about their plans. Vitomir Iliqi returned with two people near our houses to the cemetery wall, above the “Abaz Ajeti” primary school, and there they sat. While the other three people, unknown (collaborators of Iliqi) went out to the upper neighborhood “Bregu i Diellit”, near the house of the mixha Ramë and Shaban of Uglari.
That same night, on 28.03.1999 at 22:00, I saw Iliqi when he fired his revolver with a flare, to signal the Serbian army forces that were stationed in the “Zabeli i Sahit Aga” neighborhood, to shoot at Albanian houses in the “Qenar Qeshmë” neighborhood and in the “Bregu i Djegur” neighborhood in Gjilan.
Many citizens of the “Qenar Qeshmë” and “Zabelit të Sahit Aga” neighborhoods are witnesses who heard the military command: “Nishani” (take aim) and the next command “Pali” (fire). The first grenade shot was fired at Shaip Zeka’s house. This shot hit the living room. Fortunately, no family member was in that room, as they were in the yard at the time. This attack damaged a room in Shaip’s house, with all the tiles of the house falling to the ground. In addition, Shaip Zeka’s son, Isa Zeka, was injured in this attack by the Serbian army.
Near Shaip’s house, Zyhrije Pireva (born 13.08.1978) and Fikrije Pireva (1981) were seriously injured by this shelling. The Pireva family immediately took them to the city ambulance in their private vehicle. According to the family’s statements, they were stopped by the Serbian police and asked; “…where are you going?”, they replied: “…to the ambulance, for a medical checkup. There are 2 girls injured.”
The Serbian police ordered them to turn back and told them: “… ask for help from the KLA and NATO!!!” At that moment, a policeman opened fire on the car with an automatic rifle, wounding Fikrija for the second time. Out of fear, they went straight to the city hospital and sent the wounded.
Zyhrije Pireva died in the Gjilan Hospital and was buried in the city cemetery on 01.04.1999.
The second grenade was thrown at Ukshin Ajdini’s house. It only hit the roof of the house. Ukshin’s wife, Hasije Ajdini, was on the 3rd floor, scared that the grenade had caught fire. Luckily, it had not exploded in his house, all the children were at home. The children of the brothers, Father, Mother, Children of Ahmet Halili’s nephew from the heat. After 5 minutes, the first neighbor Xhavit Daku came and asked if your family had survived, that the grenade had hit the roof of your house.
I answered that we are all well, our luck did not explode in the house, but fell in the cemetery.
The third shot of the grenade was fired near the house of the elder Ramë, there were wounded.
The fourth shot was fired in the yard of the elder Ramë, the shell fell on the wall of the yard in front of the house. At the exit of the door they were in the house of the elder Ramë, Ramadan Salihu was killed on the spot, a piece of the grenade hit him in the head and all his brains were blown to the ground.
Hajdin Murtezi was seriously injured, along with Mixha Ramë and his wife, who is still alive.
Mixha Ramë and Hajdin Murtezi died as a result of the shelling.
The fifth shell was fired at the house of Shaban of Uglari. The shell fell on the roof of the house and all the tiles were broken. The shell hit the tile of the second floor of the house and the pieces fell on the house of Xhemajl Ymer of LLadove, the house of Aziz Kadriu of Zhegra. Xhemajl Ymer was killed on the balcony of his own house.
The sixth shell from the Serbian military forces was again fired at the house of Xhemajl Ymer, where the deceased was killed on the spot. There were also others injured, but they did not dare to report it because of the Serbian police!
The houses were badly damaged by the shelling, the house of the mixha Ramë, the house of Shabani, the house of Xhemajl Ymer, the house of the Turk and the apartment where Hajdin Murtezi lived.
On 28. 03. 1999, in these killings and injuries by the Serbian army and police, that evening was very sad for these families and the residents of “Qenar Qeshme”. That night, the murder of Ramadan Salihu and Xhemajl Ymer, as well as the serious injury of Hajdin Murtezi and Zyhrije Pireva, born on 13. 08. 1978. At that moment, Masar Morina and his daughter, who was a medical sister, were present.
The next morning, 29.03.1999, the day of Eid, the horror of the killings and injuries by the Serbian forces, Hajdin Murtezi was brought by his children to the house of his father Hetem Murtezi. He was very seriously injured by the shelling, his face could not be seen, nor his eyes, all his skin had fallen off and the flesh was covered with pieces of grenades and pieces of concrete!!!
There were also large pieces all over his body. He was in a lot of pain, as if he had been taken out of the fire, burned by the flames of the grenade and the pieces. We did not dare to send him to the hospital, because there were Serbian soldiers and police. They tried to kill us and said, “Beg for help from the KLA and NATO!”
We were forced to call the Albanian doctor to the house for medical help, he was Shaqiri from Burinca, living in the “Qenar Qeshme” neighborhood, where Ukshin Ajdin’s daughter (a medical sister) also helped him. Hajdini’s brother’s daughter gave him medical help, artificial nutrition, injections and vaccination against blood poisoning. Shaqiri had also told Merita that if he doesn’t get it in 24 hours, he will die because he is seriously injured and has blood poisoning from the severe wounds.
Merita and the doctor cleaned his body with alcohol and iodine.
For three months he was cured by the medical sister Merita Ajdini and Shaqiri from the village of Burincë living in our neighborhood and Dr.Maliq Bajrami, an eye doctor.
He was lying in bed and all the time they were removing pieces of the grenade from his body with tweezers, from his face, head and body until he died. There were many pieces of the grenade left in his body and the poison of the grenade smoke burned his lungs and respiratory organs. He died in a more cruel way, with severe wounds from the shelling of the Serbian military and police forces.
The killed and wounded are:
- Zyhrije Pireva. Born on 13.08.1978, father’s name Sherif, mother’s name Bahtije, born in the village of Tugjec, Municipality of Kamenica, in the 1970s, her family moved from the village and live in the neighborhood of Qenar Qeshme (Arbëria). They have their own house, primary school and 8-year-old Zyhrije completed her primary school at the Thimi Mitko school in Gjilan, she completed her secondary school at the Zenel Hajdini gymnasium in Gjilan and she completed her pedagogical faculty in Gjilan. She was seriously injured by shelling by the active Serbian army on 28.03.1999 at 22:00, it was Eid al-Fitr. The Serbian army shelled Shaip Zeke’s house and Zyrija was seriously injured by shrapnel from the grenade, her cousin Fikrije Pireva was also injured with her. Zyrija’s family took her by car to take her to the city ambulance, the Serbian police returned and wounded Fikrije Pireva once again with an automatic rifle and sent her to the hospital!
In Gjilan, where Zyhrija died in hospital from serious injuries on 01. 04. 1999 and was buried in the city cemetery in Gjilan.
- Ramadan Salihu, born on 23. 06. 1950, father’s name Ymer Salihu, mother’s name Mevlyde. Born in Gjilan, he completed primary school and 8 years of school at Musa Zajmi school, he completed high school in Gjilan, he enrolled in the Faculty of Economics, he was a footballer for the DRITA football club in Gjilan, he worked at the housing agency (SIZ) in Gjilan, he was the head of accounting. On 28.03.1999, the house of Ramadan Azemi was shelled by the active Serbian army, the grenade fell on the wall of the yard in front of the entrance door of the house 7 meters in front of them. Ramadan died on the spot, Hajdini and Mixha Ramadan Azemi and his wife were seriously injured by the grenade. Ramadan Salihu was buried the next day in the cemetery of the city of Gjilan.
- Xhemajl Ymeri, born on 20. 06. 1938, father’s name Zenel, mother’s name Arzije. Born in the village of LLadov, municipality of Gjilan. He completed 8 years of primary school in Zheger, worked from 1974 in KOSOVA TRANS in Gjilan until 1990. He was fired from his job and worked as a private taxi driver until 1999. His house was shelled by the active Serbian army from Zabeli i Sahit aga. The shell fell on his house where he was on the terrace of the house and he was killed on the spot. The pieces of the shell were found in front of his house. He died on 28. 03. 1999 at 22:00 during the shelling. The burial took place the next day in the cemetery of the city of Gjilan.
- Hajdin Murtezi, born on 20. 09. 1944, father’s name Hetem M. Uka. Mother’s name Nagjije. Born in the village of Sefer, Municipality of Presheva. He completed primary school in the village of Sefer, secondary school in economics in Gjilan, and graduated from the Faculty of Law in Prishtina in the 70s. His family came to Gjilan to live in a house in the Qenar Qeshme neighborhood, number 16/A in Gjilan. Hajdin was employed in Viti as a chief in the recruitment office and then moved to Gjilan, where he worked until 1999. On 28. 03. 1999 at 22:00, the Serbian police were on surveillance. The active Serbian army shelled the house of Ramadan Azemi, Ramadan Salihu was there, he died on the spot on 28. 03. 1999. Hajdin Murtezi was seriously injured and died of his serious wounds in 2001 and was buried in the city cemetery in Gjilan. Ramadan Azemi was seriously injured and died in 2000, as was
Ramadan’s wife. Fragments of a Serbian army grenade were found at the scene. - Ramadan Azemi, born on 15.07.1928. Father’s name Alim mother’s name ?……./ Born in the village of Suharnë, Municipality of Bujanovac. He moved from the village and had his own house in the “former Qenar Qeshme” neighborhood on the burnt bank in Gjilan. Ramadan Azemi’s house was shelled by active Serbian military forces from Zabeli i Sahit age where the Serbian army depot was located and as a result he died on the spot. Ramadan Salihu was seriously injured, Hajdin Murtezi was seriously injured. For Ramadan Azemi, the grenade fell on the wall of the courtyard in front of the entrance door, where he died from the consequences of his wounds on 11. 05. 2000. His grave is located in the cemetery of the city of Gjilan. His wife was also injured.
- Fikrije Pireva was wounded by shelling, where he was wounded for the second time with an automatic rifle by Serbian police on 28.03.1999.
- Isa Zeka was wounded in his own house, by shelling on 28. 03.1999.
- The elderly man, Tefik Vokshi, was beaten by Serbian police.
After the shelling in our neighborhood ended, they also started shelling the village of Malisheva. During the shelling of the village of Malisheva, there were killed and wounded. I don’t know the names, but the people in charge of the village of Malisheva are informed. The shooting was carried out by the Serbian army, with a military base in “Zabelin e Sahit Aga”.
On the day Ramadan Salihu and Xhemjal Ymeri were buried, the Serbian police who were at the funeral insulted people and tortured them, including Ajdin Murtezi’s brother, Faredin Murtezi, who was physically beaten. Four police officers, in uniforms and in a “ZASTAVA” car, took him to the sports hall, tortured him and physically beat him, then threw him out of the car. One of them said to him in ignorance, “Maybe you have the same birthday as me, I’ll let you go!!!”.
The Serbian police came to Hetem Murtez’s house four times, to register how many members we have in the house and they were looking for weapons. Once, on 10. 04. 1999, special police came in uniforms, prepared with long weapons. There were over ten policemen, but we members of Hetem Murtez’s family were stressed. They turned to the father – an 80-year-old man in the yard and said; “Are all your sons at home, do you have weapons …!”. Father Hetem said yes …, because he did not hear well and because of the sadness of his son who was seriously injured. He said to Ajdin; “… father, tell him that we do not have weapons.” He told them that we do not have weapons, but the police began to search the houses. After searching house by house, they went. This time, Vitomir Iliqi was also with the special police, the other policemen were on standby.
On 15. 04. 1999, Ajdin Murtezi and his brother Ukshin Ajdin went to the store. The Roma lived there, in the social housing, in our neighborhood. At that moment, Vitomir Iliqi arrived, in a “Niva” car, he was the third. He got out of the car and addressed Ajdin, who was wounded from the shelling and said; “… look how wounded you are, because you don’t love us, our country Serbia. But the Roma love us and no one bothers them.”
Every time they came to register us in our houses, they would tell us that the smallest problem would happen and where there were terrorists, they would shoot them with cannons. The Serbian army would kill the entire family in those houses that had Albanian terrorists. They were asking where the KLA was, in that house where they suspected there were KLA soldiers, the active Serbian army was firing cannons at those houses and the police were surrounding them to kill everyone.
At the end of May, dozens of paramilitary vehicles and a van full of paramilitaries passed by, who had burned down houses in the villages of Llashticë and Velekincë, with Zara as their leader (commander).
In our neighborhood, they announced that all residents of the neighborhood should be evacuated, that anyone who does not evacuate from their homes will be killed and their homes burned.
We residents who were in this neighborhood came out 10-15 people, while the others had left earlier. A car arrived, there was one of the special police and he told us; “… you begged NATO, let NATO help you. NATO army boots, it will not be able to enter Kosovo. 20% NATO has destroyed us, while the Serbian army and police have destroyed 80% of you Albanians… mother. We have destroyed you.”
The shooting that took place in this neighborhood was carried out by the Serbian army – active army, who were stationed at the military base “Zabeli i Sahit Aga”. The Serbian weapons depot was also there. The Serbian police, special police and the Serbian paramilitary army were also on watch.
In Malisheva, the same evening, the active Serbian army fired.
Every time the police conducted a house search, the police chief was Vitomir Iliqi. The search was carried out using several black cards.
In the house of Fahri Idrizi, from Zhegra, living in our neighborhood, during the shelling of the active Serbian army from the barracks in “Zabel”, a shell that had hit the house of Shaban of Uglari, the fragments hit the houses of Xhemajl Ymer and Fahri Idrizi. A piece of the shell from the MT-12 cannon, of the active Serbian army, is still found in the house of Xhemajl Ymer. This piece of the shell can serve as material evidence to prove that it was indeed fired by the cannons of the active Serbian army.
During the NATO shelling of Serbian targets, Vitomir Ilic also imprisoned Masar Morina in the fifth month.
