Kosovo Serb War Crimes Suspect Arrested in Sweden

Swedish police have announced that they have arrested a Kosovo Serb over allegations of war crimes committed in the village of Cuska near Peja/Pec, Kosovo in May 1999.

The suspect, who is reportedly in his thirties, was arrested in a joint operation by the Swedish National Criminal Investigation Department (Rikskriminalen) war crimes unit and the international prosecutor in Stockholm. 

According to Police Detective Superintendent Tomas Ackheim, the suspect was arrested without incident in western Sweden on Tuesday.

“I can say only that the arrest was conducted in a calm and orderly fashion,” he told news agency TT, and declined to provide any further details due to Swedish privacy rules.

The village of Cuska was the scene of a mass killing of 41 Kosovo Albanians in May 1999 by Serbian forces.

The arrest in Sweden yesterday comes on the heels of the arrest of nine members of the paramilitary formation known as The Jackals (Sakali) on March 12 on suspicion that the individuals were involved in crimes committed on May 14, 1999 in the village of Cuska, in Kosovo. They were remanded in custody for 30 days.

Two other suspected members remain at large, according to prosecution spokesman Bruno Vekaric.

According to a March 13 state prosecution press release, 26 members of the paramilitary formation, the territorial defence and reserve police are under investigation.

The investigation is part of a broader probe into the killings of 200 persons in Kosovo during the conflict in the late 1990s.

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