A newly uncovered document reveals that Serbian special police units had drafted a list for the execution of 66 Albanian citizens in February 1999, just weeks before the start of NATO’s air campaign against Slobodan Milošević’s regime.
The document, titled "List of Albanians to be Liquidated through Immediate Procedure", bears the signature of Colonel M. Marinković, commander of a Serbian special police unit. The list includes the names of 66 Albanians, many of whom were public figures, intellectuals, and prominent voices during the turbulent years leading to the Kosovo War.
Among the names marked for execution was Bajram Rexhepi, who would later become Kosovo’s Prime Minister. During the war, Rexhepi served as a doctor with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Another name on the list was Sadri Ferati, who later held the position of Minister of Local Government Administration in the Government of Kosovo.
The document outlines a structure of operational zones, with specific individuals assigned to carry out executions in each area. Among those believed to have been involved in implementing this plan were Dejan, Ratko (believed to be Ratko Antonijević, former director of Mitrovica prison), Kasallović, and Ajeti – potentially referring to Sherafedin Ajeti, also a former prison director in Mitrovica.
On March 24, 1999, as NATO began its airstrikes against Serbian military and police targets, it is believed that Serbian forces on the ground began executing the plan. One of the first victims was Agim Hajrizi, a well-known activist and community leader in Mitrovica.
That same evening, in a brutal attack at his home, Agim Hajrizi, his 11-year-old son Ilir, and his elderly mother were murdered. The violence did not stop there – well-known poet and activist Latif Berisha was also killed in his apartment that night.
Aferdita Hajrizi, the widow of Agim Hajrizi, later gave a powerful testimony at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), where she identified several of the perpetrators. Among them were Nenad Pavićević, Ratko Antonijević, Dejan, and Boban – men she stated had been involved in violence against Albanians even before the war began.
“We knew our killers – they were our neighbors in uniform,” Aferdita recalled in her testimony, emphasizing that the perpetrators were not outsiders or strangers, but people they had lived next to for years. “They did not come to intimidate, but to eliminate. The murder of Agim was not just a crime – it was a deliberate act of political and ethnic cleansing.”
These revelations, reported by RTK, shed new light on the premeditated nature of Serbia's campaign against Albanian civilians in Kosovo, highlighting the urgent need for justice and accountability for the crimes committed during the war.