Yugoslav Army

Hundreds of Kosovo Albanians and troops gathered on Sunday in the village of Koshare/Kosare to commemorate the anniversary of a key battle 24 years ago near the Kosovo-Albania border between the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters and Yugoslav Army troops.

"We refuse to have our history distorted," one protester said when he took loud speaker in his hand to address the protest.

Tahir Citaku made a trip of more than 700 kilometres from the Swiss city of Basel to The Hague to protest against the trial.

 Tahir Citaku. Photo: BIRN.

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and his three co-defendants went on trial at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers on Monday morning, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed between at least March 1998 and September 1999 in Kosovo and neighbouring Albania during and just after the war with Serbian forces.

In Serbia, the Day of Remembrance for those killed in NATO aggression is being celebrated, and the central manifestation, which will be attended by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vui, is being held in Sombor. During 78 days, roads, commercial facilities, health facilities, media houses, monuments and military facilities were severely damaged.

"On March 24, I noticed that my parents were worried more than ever. It was an anxious day. My father did not have to go to work," Dimitrijevic told BIRN. "In the evening we heard that the bombing had started and there were explosions."

The order for the attack was issued by Javier Solana, the Secretary General of NATO at the time, to the then commander of the allied forces, US General Wesley Clark, although there was no UN Security Council approval. It was an obvious precedent.

In the afternoon of July 23, 1999, Slavica Popovic's father, brother and uncle were out in the fields harvesting wheat in the central Kosovo village of Gracka e Vjeter/Staro Gracko when they were killed, along with 11 of their neighbours.

"Since then we have been waiting to know who killed them, and who is responsible. But we've never received an answer," Popovic told BIRN.

Conference about Montenegro's strategy for war crimes investigations in Podgorica. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic.

Bozidar Delic, a retired Yugoslav Army general and Kosovo war veteran who this month became one of seven vice-presidents of the Serbian parliament, died on Tuesday, Serbian media reported.

Beta news agency reported that Delic died in Moscow, where he went for medical treatment.

Bozidar Delic, a retired Yugoslav Army general who was commander of the 549th Motorised Brigade, which was involved in some of most notorious attacks on villages in Kosovo in 1999, was elected as one of seven vice-presidents of the Serbian parliament late on Tuesday night.