The Ćuška massacre, known as “Masakra e Qyshkut” in Albanian and “Масакр у Ћушкој” in Serbian, was a tragic event in which 41 Kosovo Albanian civilians, all men aged 19 to 69, were killed by Serbian security forces, the Yugoslav Army, and paramilitaries on May 14, 1999, during the Kosovo War. On March 13, 2010, the Serbian war crimes prosecutor announced that nine men had been arrested for their involvement in the massacre. Additionally, a total of 26 men were under investigation for charges related to murder and theft at Ćuška.^[3]

Ćuška, located near the city of Peć, was a village comprising around 200 houses and approximately 2,000 residents, predominantly Albanians. On the early morning of May 14, 1999, Serbian security forces arrived in Ćuška. Upon their arrival, they segregated the women and children from the men, systematically looted private property, and destroyed identification papers. Subsequently, the men were divided into three groups of about ten individuals each and were taken to three separate houses, where they were brutally gunned down with automatic weapons. Following the killings, each of the three houses was set ablaze. Remarkably, one man managed to survive in each of the three houses.^[3]

The motivation for the massacre at Ćuška remains unclear. Agim Çeku, a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander, was a village native and his father who was residing there was killed in the massacre; however many from the Serb forces stated that his death was not the primary purpose of the attack.^[2]

On 13 March 2010 Serbian War crime prosecution office arrested nine members of paramilitary of the “Jackals” paramilitary group.^[3]Serbian War crime prosecution office has for now, launched investigation against 26 individuals for murder and theft at Cuska.^[3]

On 20 January 2012 a district court in Stockholm, Sweden sentenced Milić Martinović, a 34-year-old former Serb policeman, to lifetime imprisonment for his role in the massacre.^[5][6]Martinović, who was arrested in Sweden in April 2010, was ruled guilty of aggravated crimes against humanity, including murder, attempted murder and aggravated arson, in connection with the massacre, the Stockholm District Court said.

Martinović had been a member of the special PJP police force that entered Ćuška on 14 May 1999 in search of “terrorists”. Armed and in uniform, he was among the troops who took a large number of people captive, killed 29 of the 40 people murdered there that day, attempted to kill three others, burned down houses and manhandled civilians, the court said in its judgment. The court documents describe how he repeatedly stood guard as his comrades shot and killed civilians and how he fired at the ground and forced residents to hand over gold and other valuables, but they do not show Martinović to have killed any victim. Newspaper reports in Sweden state he was expected to appeal the judgment.