here - Humanitarian Law Center/Fond za humanitarno pravo

local police officer and buried at a cemetery near a brick factory. Agim’s cousin Ibhadete, who
was with his father at the time of his murder, gave him a more detailed account of the
circumstances surrounding his murder.
Ejup Maloku said that at the relevant time he was in the village of Šajkovac/Shajkoc
(Podujevo/Podujevë municipality), where his two sisters lived with their husbands. His father
Hamdija and mother Zebhana had remained in their home in Podujevo/Podujevë. On the first day
of bombing, his parents came to Šajkovac/Shajkoc. A couple of days later, the police told them
they should leave the village because it was not safe any more, owing to the clashes between the
police and the KLA. They left as instructed by the police and went to Priština/Prishtinë. Several
days later, the police allowed them to go back to Šajkovac/Shajkoc and they did so later that day.
Hamdija and his wife then returned to Podujevo/Podujevë, leaving the other members of the
family in Šajkovac/Shajkoc. Ejup last saw his father one day before his death when he came over
to visit them. Hamdija told them that he needed to go to city hall to inquire about the fate of his
daughter-in-law who had gone missing and that he would come back to see them the next day.
When Hamdija failed to show up the next day, the family became worried and started asking
around for him. From his uncle’s sons Isuf and Shefqet Maloku, Ejup found out that his father
had been killed by a police officer named Miloš, and that he was buried in a cemetery near a
brick factory. Isuf and Shefqet told Ejup that they learned about what had happened to Hamdija
from a distant cousin Bajram Maloku. On a later date, Ejup learned more details about the event
from his cousin Ibhadete.
Witness Ibhadete Mehanja is a cousin of Hamdija. At the time of his death she was 15 years old.
On the day of his murder, 24 April 1999, between 10:00-11:00 a.m., she and Hamdija were
returning from town. They walked along Rrahman Morina Street, passed Halim Cikaj’s bakery
and arrived near a demolished building, where they saw a yellow ‘Golf’ and two apparently
drunk individuals standing next to it, taking drinks out of the trunk, taking in a loud voice and
laughing. At that moment Hamdija said to her: “We passed the previous patrol, but I’m not sure
we will pass through this one.” One of the men, the taller one (wearing camouflage fatigues),
approached Hamdija and asked to see his ID card, using abusive language and hitting him with
the tip of his gun. Hamdija began drawing back towards the entrance to the demolished building,
asking the man to stop being abusive and beating him. Shortly, Hamdija fell to the ground and
Ibhadete ran into a side street. The other man then fired his automatic rifle in her direction. After
a minute or two, she heard two consecutive shots, from a handgun, she assumed, coming from the
direction where Hamdija was, which made her believe that he had been killed. She went home
and told her family about what had just happened. Later that day Ibhadete’s family had to leave
town because the police ordered them to. Three days later, some cousins confirmed Ibhadete’s
suspicion that Hamdija had been killed on that day. In the courtroom Ibhadete identified Miloš
Lukić as the person in uniform who had beat Hamdija. She said she could never forget his eyes
and that he had often come up in her dreams since the event.
At the time of Hamdija’s murder, witness Halim Cikaj lived in Podujevo/Podujevë (and he still
lives there). He and his son ran a bakery in Rrahman Morina Street. On the day ofHamdija’s
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