Meja massacre

Meja massacre
LocationMeja, Oriza, and other villages in the Caragoj valley, near Gjakovë, FR Yugoslavia (modern Kosovo)
Date27–28 April 1999
TargetCatholic Kosovo Albanian males between the ages of 16 and 60[1]
Attack type
Mass murder, Androcide
Deaths≥377
PerpetratorsYugoslav security forces and Serbian police
MotiveAnti-Albanian sentiment, ethnic cleansing

The Meja massacre (Albanian: Masakra e Mejës) was the mass execution of at least 377 Albanian civilians during the Kosovo War with the purpose of ethnic cleansing, which took place on 27 April 1999.[2][3] The majority of the victims were Muslims from neighbouring areas around Meja and were temporarily in Meja as refugees who wanted to cross into Albania but were stopped there by the Serbian military.[4] The remaining victims were Catholics, including locals from Meja. It was committed by Serbian police and army forces in the Reka Operation which began after the killing of six Serbian policemen by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

The executions occurred in the village of Meja near the town of Gjakova. The victims were pulled from refugee convoys at a checkpoint in Meja and their families were ordered to proceed to Albania. Men and boys were separated and then executed by the road.[5][6] It is one of the largest massacres in the Kosovo War.[7] Many of the bodies of the victims were found in the Batajnica mass graves. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has convicted several Serbian army and police officers for their involvement.[8]

  1. ^ "U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 1999 - Serbia-Montenegro". UNHCR. 25 February 2000. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  2. ^ Plesch, Valerie. "Victims of largest mass killing in Kosovo remembered". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  3. ^ Stojanovic, Milica. "Kosovo War Criminal Elected VP of Serbian Parliament". Genocide Watch.
  4. ^ "UNDER ORDERS: War Crimes in Kosovo - 6. Djakovica Municipality". Human Rights Watch.
  5. ^ Ball, Howard (2002). War Crimes and Justice: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. pp. 197–. ISBN 9781576078990. Retrieved 31 March 2013.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference OSCE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Jones, Adam (2006). Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Routledge. p. 330. ISBN 9781134259809. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference HaxhiajStojanovic was invoked but never defined (see the help page).