Lone Survivor Gives Details of Kosovo Killings

A survivor of a weekend massacre in Kosovo supplied chilling new details Thursday of alleged atrocities against ethnic Albanian civilians.

The survivor, saying he was left for dead, described to human rights officials how he and a group of other civilian men were beaten, interrogated and then shot, one by one, by Serbian police.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch said the wounded man gave a graphically detailed account of the attack.

The man, whom Bouckaert did not identify for security reasons, said he was the only survivor.

He said the survivor’s story was corroborated by other witnesses from Golubovac, a village three miles from Gornje Obrinje, site of another massacre.

Relating the man’s account, Bouckaert said Serbian police on Saturday sent old men into nearby woods to tell refugees that it was safe to come out.

Police selected 20 to 25 of the men; the older ones were eventually let go. The rest were forced to lie on their stomachs with their hands behind their heads. All were beaten and kicked and told if they would say who in the group belonged to the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, the rest could go free.

Finally, “one policeman executed them all with short bursts of automatic fire,” Bouckaert said the survivor told him. After two trips up and down the line, the policemen kicked each victim.

The survivor said he didn’t move when he was kicked. He said he waited about 10 or 15 minutes, then fled home, where his mother and wife waited.

Bouckaert said the man in his early 40s was in extreme danger, both from severe gunshot wounds in the leg and upper arm and from police forces in the area.

“We do not believe his safety can be guaranteed in his present location,” Bouckaert said.