Kosovo 1999: A Village Destroyed

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Second from left is Srecko Popovic, who multiple witnesses said was a member of the Serbian security forces in Cuska, Kosovo, on May 14, 1999, the day forty-one people were executed. Third from left is Slavisa Kastratovic, who was seen in Zahac, Kosovo, with Serbian security forces on May 14, when nineteen other men were killed. A Serbian war crimes court convicted both men, and seven others, on February 11, 2014. The identities and activities of the other men in the photograph are unknown, as is the date and place of the photograph. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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The man on the right has been identified as Srecko Popovic. The date and location of this picture is unknown, as are the identities of the other men. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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The man above has been identified as Srecko Popovic. Date and location unknown. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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Vidomir Salipur, a Pec policeman who was killed by the KLA on April 8, 1999, is standing in the center of the back row wearing a cap. Allegedly the head of a local Pec militia called "Munja", or Lightning, Salipur had a reputation for brutality against ethnic Albanians. To his right is a man witnesses identified as Nebojsa Minic, who is implicated in the extortion and killing of six family members in Pec on June 12, 1999. Minic died in Argentina in 2005. The date and location of the photograph are unknown, as are the identities of the other men. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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Vidomir Salipur is crouching in the front row, far left. The date and location of the photograph is unknown, as are the identities of the other men. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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Funeral for the 41 victims from Cuska. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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Funeral for the 41 victims from Cuska. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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Funeral for the 41 victims from Cuska. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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Bullet holes in a Cuska home marked by investigators from the UN war crimes tribunal. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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An investigator from the UN war crimes tribunal inspecting bullet marks in an outhouse in Cuska. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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A Kosovo Albanian man identified Serbian paramilitaries who committed war crimes in the villages of Cuska, Zahac and Pavljan on May 14, 1999. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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A woman in Cuska identifies a paramilitary member who was in her village on May 14, 1999, when 41 men were executed. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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A survivor of the Cuska killings describes how he and other men were lined in this house up to be executed. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
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A survivor of the Cuska killings describes how he and other men were lined up in this house to be executed. © 1999 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch 429497
In war crimes investigations, it is unusual to get a name. Victims and witnesses usually cannot distinguish between various forces – police, special police, special forces – let alone a unit. An individual’s identity is the rarest of all. So, it came as a surprise to find a series of photos in Kosovo just after the war in 1999 that showed Serbian paramilitaries up close: men toting guns and posing before a burning building.
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