Dubrava Prison massacre
| Date | 19–23 May 1999 |
|---|---|
| Location | Dubrava Prison, near Istog, Kosovo |
| Casualties | |
| 19–23 (bombings) | |
| 79–82 (summary execution) | |
| Property damage | Prison bombed |
The Dubrava Prison massacre was the war time killing of at least 99 Kosovo Albanian prisoners and the wounding of around 200 more in the Dubrava Prison, in north-western Kosovo between 22 and 24 May 1999.
Initially, NATO claimed that the prison was a military barracks. Targeting Yugoslav and Serb forces nearby, NATO bombed the prison on 19 May and 21 May 1999. On 22 May, Serbian security forces lined up the approximately 1,000 prisoners in the courtyard and fired on them with snipers, machine guns, and grenades from the prison walls and guard towers, killing at least seventy people. At least twelve more prisoners were killed over the next twenty-four hours as prison guards, special police, and possibly paramilitary forces attacked prisoners who were hiding in the prison's destroyed buildings, basements, and sewers. The injured were taken away in trucks, while the remaining prisoners were transported to Lipjan prison, where they were beaten. On 10 June, they were transferred to prisons in Serbia after the war had ended.
The consistency of the testimonies among witnesses, including specific details about times and locations, leaves no doubt that Serbian and possibly Yugoslav government forces deliberately and without justification killed a substantial number of ethnic Albanians in the prison.