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Pastasel massacre
Pastasel massacre
Location	Pastasellë, Kosovo (then AP Kosovo, Serbia, FR Yugoslavia)
Date	31 March 1999
Target	Kosovo Albanian male civilians
Attack type	Mass killing
Deaths	106
Perpetrators	Yugoslav security forces and Serbian police
Motive	suspected reprisal attack (HRW)

The Pastasel massacre was a mass execution of 106 Kosovo Albanian civilians during the Kosovo war, which took place on 31 March 1999. Serbian forces surrounded the village and upon entering they expelled the women to Albania whilst they gathered the males and summarily executed them. The victims were mostly above the age of 55 but also children aged 13 to 17.^[1]^[2] Fighting between the KLA and Serbian forces had occurred near the village prior to the massacre. The Human Rights Watch theorizes that a KLA base in the neighboring village of Drenoc could have triggered the massacre.

Background

The village of Pastasel (Albanian: Pastasellë) is a village near the city of Rahovec and lays in the municipality with his name. The village consists of around 100 homes and is exclusively inhabited by Albanians.^[3] During the Kosovo war fighting between the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and Yugoslav forces took place in near the village. According to witnesses the KLA had a base in the neighboring village of Drenoc, but was not in Pastasel.^[4] On March 28, 1999, a military offensive was launched against the KLA in the region south of Klina and north-east of Rahovec. The operation involved a joint-command effort of the Yugoslav Army, Special Police Units, and reserve unit members. Simultaneously, the Albanian population in the area were forced to leave their homes due to repeated threats and shelling of their villages.^[5] Prior to the massacre the population of the village had doubled as many refugees fleeing the fighting from other parts of Kosovo had sought refuge there.^[6]

Massacre

Serbian forces composed of police, military and paramilitary surrounded the village in the afternoon of 31 March 1999. They then attacked with artillery, tanks and mortars. Following an hour of grenade-throwing, the Serb forces assembled the local residents in the field, segregating the men from the women.^[7]^[8] Subsequently, women had their jewelry and money confiscated by the Serbian forces and were instructed to depart from the village.^[9] After the women had left the Serb forced confiscated several thousands worth of German marks from the victims and ID cards. A survivor of the massacre recounted that when his papers were taken, he was told: "You won't need any ID where you're going."^[10] The group of men were divided into 4. The first group consisting of around 8-7 young men or children aged 13–17 were first beaten and interrogated. They were then lined up on a Gully and executed by machine gun fire. the 3 other groups were also lined up and fired upon in the same manner. In total 4 groups consisting of 106 Albanian civilians were executed.^[11]^[12]

Aftermath and legacy

Media reports

the first reports of the Pastasel massacre surfaced in Kosovapress, a news agency associated with the KLA. On April 3, they issued a brief bulletin about the massacre and subsequently published a list of ninety-nine deceased individuals the following day.^[13] Images taken by NATO reconnaissance planes on the 9 April which showed mass grave sin Pastasel were released to the press on the 11 April. The presence of mass graves garnered significant attention in the Western media.^[14] Despite NATO imagery of the mass graves and survivors' first-hand descriptions of the massacre, some media stories disputing the accounts of the killings in Pastasel and the NATO imagery persisted. Human Rights Watch conducted its own interviews and inspected the scene, confirming that the massacre did indeed occur as initially reported.^[15]

Removal of evidence

Approximately two weeks after the photographs' release, Serbian forces returned Pastasel to eliminate physical evidence of the crime. Human Rights Watch interviewed a witness, around April 24, he witnessed unidentified individuals exhuming the bodies using a small tractor at the burial site. These individuals, dressed in medical outfits and masks, transported the bodies towards Rahovec in two civilian trucks. The BBC news program, Panorama, sent reporters to Pastasel after NATO's entry into Kosovo. They obtained video footage reportedly taken by Kosovar Albanian villagers, who observed the exhumation from a hill overlooking the burial site. The footage depicted a large truck and individuals in protective clothing, including police officers, working near the mosque. The BBC's investigation suggested that some of the exhumed bodies were subsequently taken to the village of Zrze, southwest of Rahovec, where they were reburied in the village cemetery.^[16]

References

^ Haxhiaj, Serbeze (1 April 2019). "Kosovo Massacre Memories Torment Survivors, 20 Years On".
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. The men were mostly older than fifty-five, as almost all of the younger men had fled into the hills.
^ "Ethnic Composition of Kosovo 2011".
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. A survivor of the massacre told Human Rights Watch that the KLA had a base in Drenoc, but not in Pusto Selo.
^ "So we know: Jović/Joviq i Pusto Selo/Pastase, 31st March 1999". www.hlc-rdc.org. An offensive against the KLA began on March 28, 1999 on the territory south of Klina/Klinë and north-east of Orahovac/Rrahovec in a joint-command operation of the Yugoslav Army, Special Police Units (PJP), and reserve unit members. At the same time, the Albanian population in the area had to leave their homes because of repeated threats and shelling of their villages.
^ Haxhiaj, Serbeze (1 April 2019). "Kosovo Massacre Memories Torment Survivors, 20 Years On". this village of around 100 homes in the municipality of Rahovec/Orahovac, which in previous weeks had doubled its population as many people who had been displaced from other villages by the war had arrived to take refuge there.
^ Haxhiaj, Serbeze (1 April 2019). "Kosovo Massacre Memories Torment Survivors, 20 Years On". After throwing grenades for an hour, the Serb forces gathered the locals in the field and separated men from women.
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. The Serbian forces separated the men from the women
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. searched the women, and confiscated their money and jewelry.
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. After the women left, the Serbian forces ordered the men to empty their pockets, stealing the several thousand German marks that they found. "We begged them to spare our lives," said T.K., age fifty-four, another survivor. "We gave them all of our money so that they wouldn't kill us."7 The Serbs also confiscated the villagers' identity documents. B.K. said that when they took his papers they told him: "You won't need any ID where you're going."
^ Haxhiaj, Serbeze (1 April 2019). "Kosovo Massacre Memories Torment Survivors, 20 Years On". Serbian forces killed 106 Kosovo Albanians in the village of Pastasel/Pusto Selo (..:) A total of 119 men were separated into four groups.
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. In all, four groups, each consisting of between twenty-five and thirty men, were taken to the edge of the gully and executed using automatic weapons.
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. the first reports of the Pusto Selo killings appeared in Kosovapress, the KLA's news agency. It released a short bulletin on the massacre on April 3, publishing a list of ninety-nine of the dead the following day.
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. On April 11, 1999, NATO released imagery taken by an aerial reconnaissance flight on April 9 that appeared to reveal a large burial site in Pusto Selo. The photograph showed two long parallel lines, each made up of several dozen mounds of dirt; it was paired with what NATO spokesmen said was an earlier photograph, one in which the freshly turned earth does not appear.12 The evidence of mass graves was widely noted in the Western media.13
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. Also on April 24, according to Agence France Presse, the Dutch daily newspaper Algemen Dagblad ran a story casting doubt on the veracity of NATO claims of a grave site in Pusto Selo.16 A Dutch map expert quoted in the newspaper claimed that the aerial photographs of Pusto Selo displayed suspicious inconsistencies. Indeed, stories disputing accounts of the killings in Pusto Selo continued to circulate well after survivors' first-hand descriptions of the massacre became known.17 Human Rights Watch's own interviews and inspection of the scene confirmed that the massacre had, in fact, occurred such as initially reported, and that the government had acted first to bury and then to remove the bodies. When Human Rights Watch visited Pusto Selo in June 1999, villagers pointed out the burial site next to the village mosque. Part of the fence surrounding the site was broken down; within it was a long stretch of rough and uneven ground. Villagers, who spoke of close relatives whose bodies were missing, looked at the spot with anguish. "Not to know where the bodies are hidden is, for us, as if they've been killed again," T.K. stated, voicing a sentiment shared by others.18
^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 9. Orahovac Municipality". www.hrw.org. Roughly two weeks after the photographs were released, Serbian forces returned to Pusto Selo to remove the physical evidence of the crime. T.K. told Human Rights Watch that on approximately April 24 he saw unidentified individuals exhume the bodies, using a small tractor to dig up the burial site. "There were men wearing medical outfits and masks," he said. "They took the bodies away toward Orahovac in two civilian trucks."14 Panorama, a BBC news program whose reporters visited Pusto Selo after NATO's entry into Kosovo, obtained video footage that was said to have been taken by Kosovar Albanian villagers monitoring the exhumation from a hill above the burial site. The footage shows a large truck, with police and workers in protective clothing at work near the mosque. The BBC claimed that its investigations established that some of the exhumed bodies were brought to the village of Zrze, southwest of Orahovac, where they were reburied in the village cemetery.15

Sources

Abrahams, Fred; Ward, Benjamin N. (2001). Under orders: war crimes in Kosovo. Human Rights Watch. New York London: Human Rights Watch. ISBN 978-1-56432-264-7.