Yugoslav Army

Haxhi Balaj remembers that it was sunny on May 5, 1999, and that his mother Shehrije was trying to find something for lunch for the family.

They had run out of flour, among the many other things they were missing in those difficult days during the Kosovo war.

The Serbian Defence Ministry organised an event at the Belgrade Book Fair on Friday to promote a new book by former senior Yugoslav Army officer Nebojsa Pavkovic, who is currently serving a prison sentence for war crimes in Kosovo.

The prosecution at the trial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Thursday used excerpts from Ratko Mladic's war diary in an attempt to prove that the Serbian State Security Service, where the defendants were senior officials, sent paramilitary units from Serbia to Bosnia and Herzegovina in autumn 1995 and had control over

The High Court in Podgorica on Wednesday sentenced Vlado Zmajevic to 14 years in prison for war crimes against the civilian population.

Zmajevic, who was part of Yugoslav Army forces fighting in Kosovo, was found guilty of the murder of four Albanian civilians in the village of Zegra near Gnjilane in Kosovo during the war in 1999.

The idea to convert dilapidated former Yugoslav Army barracks on the outskirts of Pivka, south-west, into a museum arose 15 years ago in the local community.

At the time, its proponents could probably not imagine it would so quickly grow into the country's largest museum area.

The commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the massacre. Photo: Kosovo Assembly.

A memorial ceremony was held on Wednesday at Dubrava prison to mark the 20th anniversary of the mass killings between May 19 and 24, 1999, during the war in Kosovo.

This was stated by the president of the Coordination Body for the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja Zoran Stankovic.

Asked to comment on the claim made by some Western media that Serbia was engaging in "saber-rattling" during a time of instability in Kosovo and Metohija, the defense minister said Belgrade did contribute to that instability.

"It's disgraceful that a convicted war criminal walks in front of those who want to pay tribute to the allies who have died fighting for justice and peace in Europe. Europe Day=European values," Scott wrote in Serbian on Twitter.

Croatia's president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic visited the sites of massacres of thousands of Croatian civilians and soldiers of the defeated pro-Nazi Independent State of Croatia (NDH) on Wednesday, laying flowers and lighting candles at Macelj, Bleiburg and Huda Jama.