Saturday, June 18, 2005

World Briefing Europe: Serbia: 20-Year Term In Massacre - The New York Times

A Serbian court sentenced a former paramilitary police officer to 20 years in prison on Friday for his part in the killing of 14 Albanians -- seven of them children -- during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo. The officer, Sasa Svejtan, was given the maximum sentence for the shootings, which happened at the beginning with Serbia's conflict with NATO in the province. Dejan Demirovic, another member of the unit, known as the Scorpions, was also accused along with Mr. Svejtan. He is in prison in Canada and is fighting extradition to Serbia. The trial was seen as test of Serbia's ability to try war crimes when it began last year, and the court found Mr. Svejtan guilty. But that verdict was overturned this year by Serbia's Supreme Court over procedural irregularities. The court reconfirmed the original verdict on Friday before sentencing Mr. Svejtan. Nicholas Wood (NYT)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

20 yrs, are you kidding? 20 years for a war crime? LIFE!

Anonymous said...

20 yrs actually means 10 yrs. Because of the "patriotic actions" this can and will easily be reduced to even fewer years.

Justice? I don't think so.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry guys. I realise that 20 years is nothing for killing women and children, but when this criminal is out he will be walking the streets of Serbia looking for more bait. The citizens of Serbia will pay for their criminals, not the criminals themselves.

Anonymous said...

Ill get 2 years for coming to kosovo and beating the shit out of all your politicians, why? because USA has turned agaisnt you Al Qaeda Mujahedeen Terrorist Fundamentalists

Anonymous said...

Martyr I guess you learned this while tasting one of those Clinton's cigars or while giving head to Bush. After all you bring insider information here.