Kosovo Albanian probed over 25 Serb bodies found in cave

Agence France Presse -- English - January 19, 2007 Friday 11:26 AM GMT

 

BELGRADE, Jan 19 2007 - Serbian prosecutors have launched an investigation into an ethnic Albanian suspected of killing 25 Serbs whose bodies were found in a Kosovo cave, a daily reported Friday.

 

"We suspect Sinan Morina of having taken part in the murder of 25 Serbs" from the northwestern Kosovo village of Opterusa in 1998, assistant prosecutor Dragoljub Stankovic was quoted as saying by the Politika newspaper.

 

The United Nations mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, discovered the remains of the 25 victims in the Volujak cave, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of the village, in April 2005.

 

Morina had been detained in Montenegro on December 28 and was extradited to Serbia on the basis of an international arrest warrant, the daily reported.

 

The 34-year-old was believed to have been a member of the Orahovac division of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) linked to the massacre.

 

He is the first person to have been arrested over the case.

 

In 2000, three Kosovo Albanians were jailed for between 10 and 14 years after being found guilty of capturing and raping a group of Opterusa Serbs as members of the KLA.

 

The KLA fought against Serbian forces loyal to then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic during Kosovo's 1998-1999 war.