200,000 serbs and roma fled kosovo after the war. romani people were also driven out after being harassed by albanian gangs and vengeful individuals. the yugoslav red cross registered 247,391 mostly serb refugees by november 1999. during the kosovo war, over 90,000 serbian and other non-albanian refugees fled the war-torn province. in the days after the yugoslav army withdrew, over 164,000 serbs (around 75%) and 24,000 roma (around 85%) left kosovo and many of the remaining civilians were victims of abuse. after kosovo and other yugoslav wars, serbia became home to the highest number of refugees and idps (including kosovo serbs) in europe. in 2007, tens of thousands of serbs were preparing to flee the province of kosovo, packing their bags, fearing a new wave of ethnic cleansing at the hands of the kosovo's new albanian-led administration.serbian refugees killings according to a 2001 human rights watch report, as "many as one thousand serbs and roma have been murdered or have gone missing since 12 june 1999." according to a serbian government report, in the period from 10 june 1999 – 11 november 2001, when nato had been in control in kosovo, 847 people were reported to have been killed and 1,154 kidnapped. this comprised both civilians and security forces personnel. destruction of serbian heritage in total, 155 serbian orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed between 11 june 1999 and 19 march 2004, after the end of the kosovo war and including the 2004 unrest in kosovo. kla fighters are accused of vandalizing devič monastery and terrorizing the staff. the kfor troops said kla rebels vandalized centuries-old murals and paintings in the chapel and stole two cars and all the monastery's food. many other churches were the target of attacks by albanian militants. war crimes trials criminal prosecutions of serbian leaders before the icty slobodan milošević, along with milan milutinović, nikola šainović, dragoljub ojdanić and vlajko stojiljković were charged by the international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia (icty) with crimes against humanity including murder, forcible population transfer, deportation and "persecution on political, racial or religious grounds". further indictments were leveled in october 2003 against former armed forces chief of staff nebojša pavković, former army corps commander vladimir lazarević, former police official vlastimir đorđević and the current head of serbia's public security, sreten lukić. all were indicted for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war. milosevic died in icty custody before sentencing. the court has pronounced the following verdicts: international criminal tribunal for the former yugoslavia. milan milutinović, former president of the republic of serbia and yugoslav foreign minister, acquitted. nikola šainović, yugoslav deputy prime minister, guilty on all counts, sentenced to 22 years in prison. dragoljub ojdanić, chief of general staff of the vj, guilty to two counts, sentenced to 15 years in prison. nebojša pavković, commander of third army, guilty on all counts, sentenced to 22 years in prison. vladimir lazarević, commander of the pristina corps vj, guilty of two counts, sentenced to 15 years in prison. sreten lukić, chief of staff of the serbian police, guilty on all counts, sentenced to 22 years in prison. vlastimir đorđević, chief of the public security department of serbia's ministry of internal affairs, guilty of five counts, including crimes against humanity and war crimes, and sentenced to 27 years in prison. šainović, pavković and lukić were convicted as members of a joint criminal enterprise, while the others were convicted of aiding and abetting crimes. first cases the first trials in serbia & fry regarding the atrocities against kosovar albanians had occurred in 2000 in front martial courts, as accounts of murder. the niš military court had in late 2000 found guilty for the murder of 2 albanian civilians on 28 march 1999 in the village of gornja sušica near priština: captain dragiša petrović and army reservists sergeant nenad stamenković and tomica jović. petrović got 4 years and 10 months, while stamenković and jović sentenced to four and a half years each. the trial had dragged on as the supreme military court had abolished the verdicts and issued a retrial, until finished in late 2003 in front of it when all three indictees were found guilty for the same crime, however their sentences increased – 9 years for petrovic and 7 for stamenkovic and jovic each – guilty of a "war crime". however, the very first domestic "war crimes" (under that classification) trial in fry regarding kosovo had occurred in 1999–02, against a yugoslav army soldier called ivan nikolić, indicted for murdering 2 ethnic albanians in a village near the kosovan town of podujevo called penduh on 24 march 1999. they were originally charged for murder, and being the very first trial regarding an atrocity committed against albanians it was paved with a lot of controversy. nikolic was originally acquitted of all charges, but in june 2000 the supreme court of serbia had abolished the verdict and ordered for a retrial. instead of murder, the indictment was changed by the prosecution mid-trial to "a war crime against civilian population" (according to article 142 of the fry criminal code), paving the way for prosecution of war crimes against ethnic albanians in serbia and yugoslavia. the trial, organized in front of the district court in prokuplje, finally ended with a guilty verdict in 2002, nikolic sentenced to 8 years of prison. orahovac case one of the more known cases was that of boban petković and đorđe simić, due to the controversial stalling, both of whom are serbian police reservists; petković was suspect of murder of 3 albanian civilians in the village of rija near orahovac and simić as an accomplice. although the investigation was opened in june 1999 at the prizren district court, due to the withdrawal of serbia's judiciary in favor of unmik it had opened up in the district court of požarevac in late '99. a judgement was issued in mid 2000 and petković was found guilty in two counts of murder and sentenced to 4 years and 10 months of prison, while simić to 1 year as an accomplice. serbia's supreme court had abolished the judgements in 2001 and ordered for a retrial. in a new trial, in which according to the new procedure the individuals were indicted for a "war crime", the district court of pozarevac had sentenced petkovic to 5 years of prison with obligatory psychiatric assistance, while acquitting simic of all charges. the supreme court had considering both the defense and the prosecution again abolished the judgements in 2006. the judicial reforms and new organization of serbia's judicial system had caught up with the case, so it finally began in 2008, under the high court of požarevac. however, due to heavy procedural difficulties, demanding cooperation with the eulex for evidence from the ground, as well as the indicteds' lack of appearance in front of the court, the trial had reached a stalemate in 2011 and 2012. in march 2013 petković was found guilty by the požarevac high court for committing a war crime against civilian population and sentenced to 5 years. the process is currently as of 2014 in its appeal stadium. war crimes system in dedication to the very big issue of prosecuting war crimes committed in the 1990s and due to their sensitive nature, serbia had founded a special "war crimes prosecution" dedicated to investigating and prosecuting war crimes, as well as having special war crimes divisions within its court system with specific panels. it is the only country in former yugoslavia which has done so, all the others prosecuting war crimes under normal judicial procedures. suva reka among the more notable results is the "suva reka case" (the suva reka massacre), the trial for began in 2006. ex policemen milorad nišavić and slađan čukarić and state security member miroslav petković were found guilty by the war crimes panel of the belgrade high court, for the murder of 49 or 50 albanian civilians in suva reka on 26 march 1999, including a total of 48 members of a berisha family. nišavić got 13, petković 15 and čukarić 20 years of prison. three other policemen were acquitted, while in a separate trial suva reka police commander radojko repanović was found guilty due to command responsibility and sentenced to 20 years of prison. two other policemen were acquitted, as well as a 3rd one, against whom the prosecution had dropped the case mid-trial. in 2010 belgrade's appeal court had confirmed all verdicts against the 6 directly responsible indicted, but has dismissed repanovic's verdict and ordered for a retrial. one of the acquitted, the commander of the 37th police unit radoslav mitrović, remains in custody as of 2013 along with several other members suspect for other accounts of war crimes. repanović was found guilty on same counts and sentenced to 20 years of prison in late 2010 by belgrade's war crimes panel and in 2011 belgrade's appeal court had confirmed the judgement. more findings of war crimes against civilians lawful authorities in serbia do not deny war crimes accuses, which were made public by slobodan stojanovic, the retired commander of serbian police, who is a protected witness by serbian state. during 1998, as a member of serbian police, he had taken part in a series of actions for which he testifies that were taken against albanian civilians across kosovo. while on the radio free europe, he said that serbian senior officials were informed about every action that serbian forces members had taken in the territory of kosovo, through the chain of command that was called "territory's clearance". he says that he has seen enough horror, carried out by serbian forces, which influenced his withdrawal from serbian police. he explained one of the occasions which he says were routine. "i have been everywhere and when i saw what was happening, i pulled out. simply, without any reason, they would approach to people and threat them, by demanding money from them. if one lacked money, they would kill them, without any other reason" he said, explaining that he knew names of those who had killed innocent people by just saying "a good albanian is good only as a dead albanian". he accused his former commander, nenad stojkovic for burning of villages in mitrovica and crimes committed there. "nenad stojkovic is responsible for what we had done in mitrovica. they burnt down the whole village, that's what they would do. they would take the order and that is it, some short words. when they took the order "matches" it meant 'burn the whole village down', whereas when they took the order 'tyres' it meant kill people. when the commander mitrovic used to say 'take him for tanning', this would mean that albanian man must be killed" says stojanovic. he has also talked about other cases, which according to him were crimes, for which, however no one has claimed the responsibility. indictments to kla leaders the icty also leveled indictments against kla members fatmir limaj, haradin bala, isak musliu and agim murtezi, indicted for crimes against humanity. they were arrested on 17–18 february 2003. charges were soon dropped against agim murtezi as a case of mistaken identity, whereas fatmir limaj was acquitted of all charges on 30 november 2005 and released. the charges were in relation to the prison camp run by the defendants at lapušnik between may and july 1998. in march 2005, a un tribunal indicted kosovo prime minister ramush haradinaj for war crimes against the serbs, on 8 march he tendered his resignation. haradinaj, an ethnic albanian, was a former commander who led units of the kosovo liberation army and was appointed prime minister after winning an election of 72 votes to three in the kosovo's parliament in december 2004. haradinaj was acquitted on all counts, but was recalled due to witness intimidation and faces a retrial. however, on 29 november 2012, haradaniaj and all kla fighters were acquitted from all charges. kosovo specialist chambers and specialist prosecutor's office. according to human rights watch, senior leaders of the kla accused of killings and body transfers to albania remain at-large, some in high government posts. in 2016, a special court was established in the hague to investigate crimes committed in 1999-2000 by members of the kosovo liberation army against ethnic minorities and political opponents. in