Vushtrri massacre

The Vushtrri massacre was the mass killing of Kosovo Albanian refugees near Vushtrri, during the Kosovo War on 2–3 May 1999.

Vushtrri massacre
Location of Vushtrri in Kosovo
Location	Vushtrri, Kosovo
Coordinates	42.8352°N 21.0226°E / 42.8352; 21.0226
Date	2–3 May 1999 (Central European Time)
Target	Kosovo Albanian refugees
Attack type	Mass Killing
Deaths	100–120
Perpetrators	Serbian Police

Background

A column of about 1,000 refugees were travelling in a convoy of about 100 tractors, who were fleeing fighting between the KLA and Serbian forces east of Vučitrn, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Vushtrri, Kosovo).^[1] Serbian Police and paramilitary forces caught up with the convoy that traveled south. On 2–3 May between Gornja Sudimlja and Donja Sudimlja (Albanian: Studime e Eperme and Studime e Poshtme) near Vushtrri, an estimated 100 men were killed.^[2]

ICTY investigator Romeu Ventura said that 120 civilians were murdered on 2 May by Serb forces and buried two days later in a mass grave five miles east of Vushtrri.^[1] After the war, ICTY forensic teams discovered 98 bodies in Gornja Sudimlja.^[2]

The Vushtrri case was raised at the trial of Serbian police general Vlastimir Đorđević.^[3] The indictment against Đorđević says that some 105 Kosovo Albanians^[who?] were killed in the massacre near the village of Sudimlje on 2 May 1999.^[4] Đorđević was sentenced to 27 years in prison.^[5]

See also

• Operation Horseshoe
• War crimes in the Kosovo War