NEW PRESSURE ON SERBS FROM KOSOVO: Two Men Arrested by the So-Called Kosovo Police over Alleged War Crimes from 1999!

Two Serbs were arrested on October 29 in the villages of Osojane and Crkolez, in the municipality of Istok in Kosovo and Metohija, on suspicion of war crimes allegedly committed in 1999. Among those arrested is Žikica Belošević, an employee at a kindergarten in Osojane, while police searched the homes of Serbian families during the operation, RTS reports.

Žikica Belošević, originally from the village of Crkolez, was detained in Osojane and taken to a police station for questioning. Members of the Kosovo Police searched his family home in Crkolez.

According to sources close to the family, the reasons for the arrest were initially unknown. The same sources said that plainclothes and uniformed police officers also searched the homes of other Serbian families.

Grujica Belošević and Obrad Tijanić were also detained in Crkolez, RTS sources confirmed.

Obrad Tijanić was released after questioning, while Žikica and Grujica Belošević remain in custody. They are expected to appear before a pre-trial judge at the Basic Court in Pristina on October 30.

Kosovo Police Claim the Suspects Are Accused of War Crimes

The Police Directorate in Pristina announced that two men, identified by the initials Z. B. and G. B., had been arrested on suspicion of war crimes allegedly committed on March 26, 1999, in the municipality of Istok.

“In coordination with the competent prosecutor, investigators from the War Crimes Unit carried out operational activities in accordance with their relevant authorities, deploying units in the field. As a result of these activities, today, October 29, 2026, two suspects were arrested. Z. B. and G. B. were located and arrested in the villages of Osojane and Crkolez, in the municipality of Istok,” the police statement said.

According to the announcement, further activities in this case are to be carried out in coordination with the Office of the Special Prosecutor in Pristina.

Arrests in Villages Where Serbs Remained Even After 1999

Crkolez is one of three interconnected villages in the municipalities of Istok and Srbica where the Serbian population continued to live after the 1999 conflict.

In the neighboring village of Suvo Grlo, police and judicial authorities arrested four more Serbs during this year, also suspected of alleged war crimes.

They have been in detention since March.