Kosovo’s Special Prosecution Office has filed war crimes charges against 20 individuals over crimes allegedly committed in Gjakovë during the 1998–1999 Kosovo war. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, one of the defendants is Milan Radoičić.

The group is accused of participating in the killing of 107 civilians, and prosecutors have requested that the trial be held in absentia.

The defendants, who are charged with war crimes against the civilian population, were identified only by their initials: M.K., R.Ç., M.D., P.R., S.K., L.O., Zh.S., S.S., L.D., Z.R., D.G., Ç.B., V.B., R.B., R.R., L.R., M.Sh., M.R., S.G., and T.A.

According to the prosecution, during 1998–1999, M.K., then head of the Secretariat of Internal Affairs in Gjakovë, R.Ç., commander of the Special Police Units, and M.D., commander of the 52nd Rocket Artillery Brigade, together with the other defendants, including Radoičić, participated in the killing of 107 civilians during what prosecutors described as a large-scale military and police operation.

According to the indictment, the defendants allegedly separated women and children from the men. The women were reportedly robbed of their gold jewelry, money, and other valuables, while the men were executed—some in their homes and courtyards, and others at a location known as Taliq Bridge. The victims’ homes were also allegedly set on fire.

In April 2025, the Basic Prosecution Office in Gjakovë issued arrest warrants for Radoičić and 19 other Serbs on suspicion of participating in the killings of civilians whose bodies were later discovered in a mass grave in Batajnica, Serbia.

According to the arrest warrant, between May 7 and May 10, 1999, Serbian military and police forces allegedly went house to house, forcibly removing residents, separating men from women and children, and killing 106 Albanian civilians. After the war, their remains were found in the Batajnica mass grave.

The warrant also alleges that during the same period, the group, including Radoičić, arrested and detained more than 300 Albanian civilians in improvised detention facilities, where they were allegedly denied basic necessities such as adequate food, hygiene, and medical care before many were transferred to prisons across Kosovo.

According to the Basic Court of Gjakovë, the detainees were released after June 1999 with the assistance of international organizations.

In 2025, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty interviewed residents of Gjakovë who lost family members during the war. Several said that Milan Radoičić’s name had been mentioned by local families since 1999 in connection with the events.