11 ethnic Albanians indicted for killing all but one in family of five
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Feb 8 (AFP) - An international prosecutor in Kosovo has indicted 11 ethnic Albanians for killing a family of five in 2001, a UN official said Saturday.
The group was charged with murder, aiding and abetting the murder of the Hajraj family after their vehicle was ambushed and sprayed with bullets from Kalashnikov assault rifles near Glogovac, in central Kosovo.
"After a long investigation, an international prosecutor indicted 11 ethnic Albanians," Andrea Angeli, spokesman for the UN mission in Kosovo, told AFP.
Hamze Hajra, 50, his wife Miradie, 45, their son Xhevdet, 22, and daughters Mimoza, 14, and Adelina, nine, were all killed in the ambush. Another daughter, Pranvera, 16, survived the attack.
Hajra had worked for the Serbian police in 1998 and 1999, when Belgrade was forced to withdraw its forces from Kosovo following a 78-day NATO air campaign launched to end repression of the Serbian province's ethnic Albanian majority.
Four of those indicted are members of the province's civil emergency force, KPC, formed out of former ethnic Albanian guerrillas. Another force are members of the local police force, the KPS, Angeli said.
The trial is to start in mid-2003. If found guilty the suspects face up to 40 years in prison.
Since Kosovo came under UN and NATO control in June 1999, there have been numerous acts of violence, primarily targeting non-ethnic Albanians but also incidents between Albanians.