Five people were arrested on Sunday during a joint operation conducted by the Special Prosecution Office and the Kosovo Police as part of an investigation into war crimes in the case known as “Reçak II.”

According to a statement from the Special Prosecution Office, search warrants were executed at several locations during the operation.

Authorities have not yet released details regarding the identities of those arrested or the specific offenses they are suspected of committing, but said that further information will be provided during a press conference scheduled for later.

The “Reçak II” case is linked to investigations into war crimes stemming from events in the village of Reçak, in the municipality of Shtime, during the Kosovo war.

Earlier, the Special Prosecution Office filed an indictment in absentia against 21 individuals suspected of war crimes against the civilian population in connection with the Reçak massacre of January 15, 1999, in which 42 Albanian civilians were killed.

Trials in absentia, which the Special Prosecution Office has requested in this case, became possible in Kosovo following amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code adopted in 2022.

However, such trials may only proceed if the prosecution and the court have exhausted all available means to secure the presence of the accused.

The Code also stipulates that persons tried in absentia have the right to an unconditional retrial once they are arrested.

The massacre prompted NATO to launch its bombing campaign aimed at ending the 1998–99 war in Kosovo, which ultimately led to the country’s independence several years after its liberation.

During the war in Kosovo, from 1998 to 1999, more than 13,000 civilians were killed, while thousands of others went missing.

More than 1,500 people remain unaccounted for, the majority of them Albanians.

Hundreds of Kosovo Albanians killed during the conflict were later found in mass graves in Serbia. Their bodies had been transported by Serbian forces in an effort to conceal the crimes.