Pristina court opens in-absentia trial over Racak
The main hearing against 21 defendants charged over the deaths of 42 civilians in Racak began on Friday, 11 days after the first session collapsed over undelivered case files.
The Basic Court in Pristina opened the main hearing on Friday against 21 men charged with a war crime against the civilian population in Racak. None of them is in the courtroom and none is expected, because the case is being tried in absentia: the defendants are beyond the reach of the judiciary in Pristina.
The Kosovo Special Prosecution filed the indictment on December 31, 2025, together with a motion to proceed without the accused present. It charges them over the deaths of 42 civilians in the village of Racak, in the municipality of Stimlje, roughly 30 kilometres from central Pristina, on January 15, 1999. Judge Violeta Namani-Hajra presides over the trial panel.
Why the first session broke down
The hearing was first set for July 20 and was cut short the same day. The court established that part of the defence bench had never received the case files, so the session could not proceed. Prosecutor Ilir Morina said at the time that only ten lawyers had come to the prosecution office to collect the material.
On top of that, the Bar Association in Pristina had not told the court which lawyers were authorised to represent four of the defendants: Zoran Stanojevic, Milan Josanovic, Goran Petkovic and Dragoslav Nikolic. The court set July 31 as the new date, 11 days later, and used that window to deliver the files.
Who is on the indictment
The prosecution lists the accused by initials in its documents. Their full names are:
- Obrad Stevanovic
- Radomir Markovic
- Krsman Jelic
- Goran Radosavljevic
- Zivko Trajkovic
- Bogoljub Janicevic
- Milan Lekic
- Radomir Milic
- Dragan Djorgovic
- Branko Mladenovic
- Dragan Jasovic
- Momcilo Sparavalo
- Darko Amanovic
- Srboljub Vujinovic
- Bozidar Marinkovic
- Zoran Stanojevic
- Milan Josanovic
- Goran Petkovic
- Dragoslav Nikolic
- Cedomir Aksic
- Zvonimir Janicijevic
The indictment concerns an operation by Serbian police forces in Racak in mid-January 1999. No guilt has been established against any of the 21 men. They stand accused, and their defence in this trial rests with appointed or retained lawyers rather than with the men themselves.
What trying a man in his absence actually means
A trial in absentia runs all the way to a verdict, but without the defendant’s testimony and without any chance for the court to put a question to him. Whatever the accused would have said stays out of the file. The defence is reduced to lawyers working through material the prosecution assembled, and it was the delivery of that material that sank the first session.
Seven months passed between the indictment and the first sentence spoken at the main hearing. Part of that time went to a question that is procedurally basic: who represents whom, and whether that lawyer has the files. If it is not settled for the four defendants whose counsel remains unconfirmed, the same lapse becomes grounds to challenge everything the case produces.
Trials in absentia became possible in Kosovo after amendments to the criminal procedure code. Ten of the 120 seats in the Kosovo Assembly are guaranteed to the Serb community. The defendants live outside the reach of Pristina’s courts, so any verdict would have no route to enforcement short of arrangements Belgrade and Pristina have never put in place.
The Racak file has now reached a main hearing before a court in Pristina for the first time, 27 years after January 15, 1999.
