Rezalla massacre
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Rezallë, Srbica, AP Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia (modern Kosovo)
after 17:00 (Central European Time)
| Rezalla massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Kosovo War | |
| Native name | Masakra e Rezallës |
| Location | 42°41′20″N 20°46′08″E / 42.689°N 20.769°E Rezallë, Srbica, AP Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia (modern Kosovo) |
| Date | 5 April 1999 after 17:00 (Central European Time) |
| Target | Kosovo Albanians |
Attack type | Mass killing |
| Deaths | 98 |
| Injured | 4; 2 later died due to the wounds |
| Perpetrators | Serbian police forces |
| Convicted | none |
The Rezalla massacre (Albanian: Masakra e Rezallës) was the mass killing of 98 ethnic Albanians civilians in the village of Rezallë, on 5 April 1999 during the Kosovo War. The massacre was perpetrated by Serbian forces.[1][2][3]
Survivors
Early in the morning of 5 April, Serbian police forces surrounded the village of Rezallë while they were shooting from multiple directions. After entering the village, they went house to house and ordered the Albanian residents to come outside their houses. And, their houses were then set on fire.[1]
After that, survivors recalled that Serbian Police instructed the villages to walk toward a hill, saying to them, “you can go to Thaçi or Clinton.” They took us into the yard of a house and they were kept there from approximately 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. During this time, the police separated men from age fourteen to fifty and beat them while their hands were tied behind their backs.[1]
The execution of the massacre appears have been planned in advance, as indicated by the testimonies:[1]
When they took us in the yard they started to check us. They told us to take everything we had out of our pockets.We were all kinds of people—old men, blind men, young men.There was a thirteen-year-old boy and they shot him [with everyone else]. When we were surrounded they were asking us [questions].We heard when they said ‘is it enough so we can kill them now?’
— A sixty-year-old survivor of the massacre, one of the two survivors, from the report Under Orders: War crimes in Kosovo
At around 5:00 p.m., the men were ordered to line up in pairs. Around that time, another group of Serbian police had arrived from the nearby village of Morinë, east of Rezallë. The police had then separated the women and children from the men and sent them toward the south, toward the village of Likoc. Witnesses stated that approximately thirty police officers were present at the site. Afterwards, the men were taken toward the road that leads to Likoc, where three to four additional civilians were brought from the nearby houses. A survivor describes then the following:[1]
After [the police] brought these men they started to prepare their guns. One of them went to the roof of the house of [H.D.]. There were about thirty police there with us. The one who was on the roof was the first one to shoot. Then the others started to shoot. I was wounded with three bullets. They were shooting for half an hour. Then after that another one came closer and started to shoot with an automatic. When he came close to me he didn’t have any bullets. When he came back from reloading he went somewhere else and fortunately didn’t shoot me. Then they took the trucks and tractors and started to drive away. I stayed there for two hours because I was afraid to move
— A sixteen-year-old survivor of the massacre, the only other survivor, from the report Under Orders: War crimes in Kosovo
One survivor stated that he was struck by three bullets but survived by remaining motionless among the dead. Another survivor, also survived by pretending to be dead after being wounded. Initially, four men survived the shooting. However, the two of the survivors later died, one reportedly succumbed to his taken wounds 4 days after the massacre, while another was captured and killed 10 days later. Consequently, the only survivors were a sixty-year-old and a sixteen-year-old.[1][2]