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Special Prosecutor Drita Hajdari on BIRN Kosovo’s ‘Jeta ne Kosove’ programme on Thursday. Photo: BIRN.

Special Prosecutor Drita Hajdari told BIRN Kosovo’s TV programme ‘Jeta ne Kosove’ on Thursday evening that she has relaunched investigations into the case of Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman after she became the first woman to speak publicly about her experience of being a victim of sexual violence during the 1998-99 war.

In 2014, Kosovo’s Supreme Court acquitted two former Serb policemen who were initially indicted for raping Krasniqi Goodman.

“The case of Vasfije has been reopened. I decided to reopen her case, but not against the perpetrators, because the procedures against [both of] them were closed with the final verdict… I do not have the legal basis [for bringing a new case against them],” Hajdari told the programme.

She explained that one of the reasons for reopening the case was that rape was used as a weapon by the enemy side during the war.

“I am doing this because they [Serbs] committed rape during the war, it was a tool of war. These rapes in Kosovo did not happen by accident and these are not isolated cases,” Hajdari said.

“These are weapons which were used by the enemy during the war,” she added.

Hajdari said that she has already issued a request to the police to begin further investigations.

“I have issued a request, an authorisation to the police- the unit of investigations on war crimes, in which I have [explained] precisely the action they should take in this case; among other things, the witnesses will be interviewed again in the future, maybe Vasfije herself too,” she said.

Krasniqi Goodman gave an interview to Kosovo’s public broadcaster, RTK last month, saying that she was raped twice after being taken from her home by Serb police officers in April 1999.

No verified statistics exist on the number of victims of sexual violence inflicted by Serbian forces during the Kosovo war.

A report by Amnesty International published in December 2017 said only a few of those accused of wartime rape in Kosovo have been prosecuted.

In a socially conservative society, few of the victims can count on support from their families to share their experiences. Fearing stigmatisation, many have continued to suffer in silence.

Read more:

Pioneering Kosovo Rape Victim Relives Battle for Justice

The Enduring Agony of Wartime Rape in Kosovo

Kosovo Urges Wartime Rape Survivors to Register

Kosovo Must Get Real on Violence Against Women