“She took me to the basement, stripped me as my mother gave birth to me, and said: ‘this is where we keep Albanian pigs, and today you will be deported too.’”
This is one of the shocking testimonies of victims of systematic abuse against Albanian female prisoners at the Prishtina Prison – women’s section in Lipjan, where the accused for mistreatment is former guard Nadica Cepkenoviq, reports KosovaPress.
Zahrije Podruqa, who was sentenced to four years in prison in 1998, said the torture she endured at the hands of Cepkenoviq is still vivid in her memory.She recounted that for months she was continuously tortured, both physically and psychologically.
“I remember that every month, regularly, she tortured me, never stopping. She would play the tape recorder at full volume so that screams couldn’t be heard. I was among the most tortured women in Serbian prisons, both physically and psychologically. She took me to the basement, which was a room with instruments, and said, ‘this is the place,’ she said, ‘where we keep Albanian pigs,’ she said, ‘and today you will go through these machines and be deported.’ She stripped me, as my mother gave birth to me, threw Hashim Thaçi’s photo on the floor, and tortured me as much as they could, until I could no longer bear it. She tried to force me to step on Hashim Thaçi’s photo, but I didn’t. In the end, I told her, ‘take out the gun and shoot me,’ because I would not step on it—it belongs to my brother—and I took the photo from the ground and placed it on my chest,” Podruqa said.
Another former prisoner, Jehona Krasniqi-Morina, said that facing the accused after almost three decades did not bring positive emotions.
Krasniqi-Morina emphasized that this trial represents a turning point for the victims. “The moment we faced her after almost three decades in court did not bring good feelings.”“With her, only bad, bitter events come to mind—continuous systematic abuse, from arrest until our release. The moment we faced her after nearly thirty years in court did not bring good emotions. It was very violent, with extraordinary psychological pressure, constantly, for all female prisoners. She was not alone; there are others mentioned by the guards in this indictment. For justice to be done, all of them should be held accountable because they were accomplices. Still, this is a turning point for us, because after more than two decades, it is a positive sign that justice wants to highlight the abuse of someone who truly applied extraordinary pressure. It was called a prison, but it can be compared to Nazi camps, in terms of what they did to Albanian prisoners, regardless of gender. They insulted ethnicity, Albanians, in many ways; they tried to intimidate in various forms,” Krasniqi-Morina said.
Meanwhile, Mevlyde Saraçi, who said the abuse she endured left serious consequences even for her hearing, stated that she found it difficult to listen to the trial session today.She called for proper punishment for the accused and other guards involved.
“Only air could be breathed in the 6-square-meter room, nothing else… With the look she carried in there today, entering the courtroom with her ignorance, with the face of a criminal, she looked at all of us in order. For me, today is a day of victory, because today she is in the position we were in. But it saddens me that we pay taxes so that she can be fed with our money. Such a criminal must be punished, as well as the others who were absent, because for us, the women and girls imprisoned under extraordinary circumstances, who worked for Kosovo’s freedom and independence, they damaged our bodies, harmed us psychologically and morally, humiliated us, insulted our nation, insulted the Kosovo Liberation Army, insulted Albanian mothers, the cradle of Albanian children, and everything else,” she said.
The initial session against the accused Nadica Cepkenoviq was held at the Prishtina Basic Court. She is accused of violating international law by systematically abusing Albanian female prisoners while serving as a guard at the Prishtina Prison – women’s section in Lipjan.She pleaded not guilty to the indictment of committing crimes against the civilian population.
According to the indictment, Cepkenoviq, during the Kosovo War in 1998–1999, in her capacity as a former guard at the Prishtina Prison – women’s section in Lipjan, together with Ljiljana Seliq, Danica Lukiq, Sladjana Arsiq, and Biljana Stoliq, is suspected of violating international law by systematically abusing Albanian female prisoners.
The indictment describes that the defendants are suspected of torturing the victims in an inhumane manner using various instruments, including rubber batons, kicks, and punches until unconsciousness, causing bodily harm. They also allegedly inflicted psychological abuse, seriously threatened lives, and, as a result of repeated beatings, the victims suffered anxiety and fear, while their human dignity was severely violated—consequences that, according to the indictment, they continue to bear today.
