Strictly confidential Yugoslav Army (YA) documents on operations that
took place between September 25th and 27th, 1998, in the
area of Kosmač/Kosmaq indicate the presence of the 125th motorized brigade (MtBr) in
Gornje Obrinje/Obri e Epërme on September 26th and 27th,
1998.
According to a Priština Corps Command Order to support
MUP Forces in Destroying STF in the Region of Komač, the first Combat Group of
125th MtBr was engaged in Gornje Obrinje/Obri e Epërme on September
25th 1998, alongside MUP forces. “The Order to Support MUP Forces in Destoying STF [sabotage-terrorist
forces] in the Region of Kosmac” was issued by the Priština Corps on
September 24th 1998 and it states the following:

The presence of the 1st Combat Group of the
125th MtBr in Gornje Obrinje/Obri e Epërme at the time in question
was also confirmed by the later combat reports of the Priština Corps. A Combat Report of the Priština Corps
Command was sent to the 3rd Army Command on September 26th
1998. For the day of September 25th, 1998, it contains the following:


On October 2nd
1998, the YA General Staff requested a written statement “regarding the massacre in the sector of
Gornje Obrinje village” from the
Commander of the 3rd Army:

In his response dated October 5th 1998, the
Chief of Staff of the Priština Corps, Vladimir Lazarević stated:
In the report submitted in early October 1998 to Dušan
Samardžić, the Commander of the 3rd Army, the Priština Corps
Commander Nebojša Pavković claims not to possess information about the “alleged
massacre” in Gornje Obrinje. However, in the same document, he informs the
Commander of the 3rd Army that he had been informed about the
“content of unverified information that members of security service delivered
to the YA General Staff Security Administration stating that unidentified
members of the MUP units that were carrying out combat operations in the
village of Gornje Obrinje executed persons taken into custody.”
In his testimony before the ICTY in the case of Šainović et al. Dragan Živanović, the
Commander of the 125th MtBr, avoided speaking specifically about
responsibility for the mass execution in Gornje Obrinje/Obri e Epërme. Asked by
the Defence Counsel if he could remember the joint combat operations between
the YA and the Republic of Serbia MUP forces in the general sector of the Gornje
and Donje Obrinje villages from September 26th, 1998, Živanović
replied:
“I recall that we were lending support to MUP
forces in that action and we suffered our first losses right there, in terms of
combat equipment and manpower. The Commander of my combat group, Major Dragan
Trifunović, was wounded in that action.”
In the
morning, around 06:00 on September 25th 1998, Serbian forces started
shelling villages east of the town of Glogovac/Gllogoc. Around 10:00, the
Serbian forces set off towards Gornje Obrinje/Obri e Epërme from the area of
Trdevac/Tërdec. The clash with KLA took place in the hills around the village,
and it lasted until the afternoon hours, when the Serbian forces withdrew
towards Trdevac/Tërdec.
On the
following day, September 26th 1998, the Serbian forces shelled
Gornje Obrinje/Obri e Epërme again. The shelling stopped around 14:00h and
Serbian forces entered the village. Local residents had earlier hidden in the
nearby forest.
19 members
of the D. family hid in the place called Koreniti
Šumarak/Zabeli i Renjave, a kilometer away from the D. hamlet. There, they
put up a nylon tent. M.A. told HLC researchers, that, on the day in question,
he was able to hear from the spot where he was hidden, some 200-300 hundred
meters from the tent where the D. family hid, “voices of women and children,
suddenly they all started screaming at the top of their lungs…the screaming
lasted for about half an hour. No voices could be heard after that.“
Later that day, after the Serbian
forces left the village, several local residents found the bodies of 14
massacred members of the Deliu family. The bodies of Z.D. and A.D. were
found in front of the tent. A.throat was slit. P.D. was killed by the impact of a blunt instrument to the head. H.E. was killed not far from P.. About
ten meters from the tent, was the body of a boy by the name of J.D., whose lower jawbone was fractured and whose right ear had
been cut off. Next to J. was the dead body of his grandmother H.D. and the body of L.D.who was nine months pregnant. They
were both killed with shots to the head. Not far from Luljeta the body of baby,
V. D. was found. Next to V.was the body of L.D.and
her daughter M.D. who was shot under
the left ear and in the neck. The body of M.D.
was found nearby, while the bodies of Z.D.
and bodies of D.D. and G.D. were found a little further away.
Five
children of the D. family survived the massacre. A 6 week old baby was found in
the arms of the executed L.D., while A.D, B.D, L.D. and A.D. ran away from the
tent before the Serbian forces arrived.
Between September 26th and 27th
1998, Serbian forces killed 14 more civilians in Gornje Obrinje/Obri e Epërme
The crime in Gornje Obrinje/Obri e Epërme was
documented by Human Rights Watch[1] and the OSCE, [2] while numerous foreign media reported on it: The New
York Times, Reuters, The Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph.
[1] Human Rights Watch, “A Week of
Terror in Drenica”, February 1999. See also Exhibit P2228, Statement of Fred
Abrahams, Šainović et al.
[2] OSCE, Kosovo Verification Mission,
“As Seen As Told”, 1999, p. 191.
* 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.