The “Šakali” (Jackals) unit was part of the 177th
MTD Peć which was under the command of the 125th MtBr. According to the rules of international law, Dragan
Živanović, as the Commander of the 125th MtBr was obliged to undertake all necessary measures to
prevent the crime in Zahać/Zahaq, or if
made aware of the events after the fact, to report the events to the
prosecuting authorities.
According to the “Plan for Engagement of Joint Squads”
produced by the Priština Corps Command and issued on April 25th,
1999, the 177th MTD was subordinate to the 125th MtBr in
the following activities and tasks:
“1. United and sustained command,
co-ordination, uninterrupted functioning of the communication system.
...
Detection and
destruction of the remaining SHTF and full control of the territory
within the zone of responsibility.
...
8. Clearing up of the front through the organs
of the MUP and local authorities.
...
10. Taking of measures to prevent disorder,
lack of discipline, looting, arson, abuse and other forms of criminal behaviour
within the unit and the zone of responsibility...”
The Command of
the 125th MtBr issued an order sent (among others to the 177th
MTD) on April 24th, 1999, asking for “the full combat control of the
sectors”. The order was signed by Dragan Živanović. Part of the order offers an
“Assessment of the number of ShTF[Shiptar
– Terrorist Forces] in the area of
responsibility of the Brigade“:
“Another 100 individuals who took part in
combat operations against our forces are in the area of the villages of
Blagoje, Naklno, Zabrđe, Osoje, Ćuška, and Zahač
wearing civilian clothes and living in their native villages.”
This
order represents an obvious violation of international humanitarian law because
civilians in the aforementioned villages are represented as legitimate targets,
that is, no distinction was made between combatants and civilians.
Other evidence available only in the Serbian version of the website
After the crime committed in the village of Pavljane/Pavlan, soldiers of the 177th MTD (Military-territorial
Detachment) and TD (Territorial Defence) forces arrived in Zahać/Zahaq, located
on the Peć/Pejë -Priština/Prishtinë
road. Villagers were ordered to leave their houses and gather in the centre of
the village, by Ahmet Mehmeti’s store.
The soldiers ordered the citizens who had gathered, to
start moving towards Peć/Pejë. When the convoy with trucks and tractors arrived
at the Pavljane/Pavlan - Zahać/Zahaq intersection, by the “Kuqi” vehicle repair
shop, soldiers started to remove the men fit for military service from the
trucks and tractors. The women, children and the elderly were ordered to carry
on towards Peć/Pejë. Eighteen men were taken from the convoy. The locals who
were allowed to continue towards Peć/Pejë, saw that the soldiers lined the
separated men against the wall of the Kuqi repair shop and aimed their weapons
at them.
After that, soldiers ordered the separated men into
the inspection pit in the repair shop. There, they executed them with automatic
rifle fire. None of the men survived.
The women, children and the elderly who were ejected from
Zahać/Zahaq returned to the village later the same day because Serbian forces
at the checkpoint Vitomirica/Vitomiricë [Peć/Pejë Municipality] refused to
allow them to proceed towards Peć/Pejë. In the inspection pit of the “Kuqi” vehicle
repair shop, they found the bodies of the men. Several minutes later, YA
soldiers arrived in a green SUV. They stopped the villagers from taking the
bodies and ordered them to go to their homes. The families knew nothing about
the fate of the bodies until 2002, when they found out that the bodies had been
discovered at the cemetery in the nearby village of Ruhot in the Municipality
of Peć/Pejë.
On the same day, the YA soldiers killed another four
men in their houses in Zahać/Zahaq.
Zoran Rašković, a member of the Šakali (Jackals) unit of the 177th MTD Peć was in
Zahać/Zahaq on May 14th, 1999. He did not see the execution at the
“Kuqi” repair shop. In the Ćuška case
he testified about other criminal operations of the Šakali unit soldiers:
“So, I remember some scenes from Zahać, I know
we came from the lower side and I know that the other group came from the upper
side….I still remember a scene from Zahać, because, I, even 12 years later, we
were in some kind of a trance, I do not know if anyone was normal at that time,
but we entered Zahać in that kind of state. There was a man from Kragujevac, I
think that two, three, four men from Kragujevac joined us during those days,
one young man from Kragujevac was riding a donkey and shooting from his AK-47,
it was like a scene from a cartoon and I asked Srećko Popović what the man was
doing. Ćale [Srećko Popović] told me, let him do it, he is calming himself down
like that… so if he was calming himself down that way you can only imagine the
state in which we arrived in Zahač. Unlike Ćuška, where there was some
organization, in Zahač everyone was going where they wanted. In groups of three
or four, soldiers raided houses and set them on fire. I really did not see any
mass executions, but they were splitting up. Ranko “Bosanac” [Momić], “Vampir”,
Siniša, Lekić, “Mrtvi” [the late Minić Nebojša] would enter a yard. Definitely it
would be Ranko who would spread out a rug or a tent sheet and ask people to
take everything out of their pockets. They would enter a yard of a house where
20-30 people were gathered and the people would hand over their gold…
...
Two executions I remember. One man from the Territorial
Defence force who joined us there, I remember that he carried the antenna on
his back, I thought he was completely OK... where was I, yes… with a donkey
where he is chasing two Shiptars. I did see that. In the same manner Srećko
Popović together with “Šumadija” [Nikolić Milojko] killed some Shiptar by a
barn and he did it again in the name of Serbia and he set an entire haystack on
fire. Maybe there is more but those would be some of the scenes from Zahač.”
* The description of the crime is based on testimonies of
survivors, eyewitnesses and victims' family members given to the Humanitarian
Law Center, national courts or the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY); forensic reports; judgments and transcripts of trials;
media reports and other documents.
Evidence
Criminal proceedings
Media
