War crimes judgment of top Serbian officials due Thursday
Former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic and five other former Yugoslav and Serbian officials charged with war crimes in Kosovo will hear their judgment on Thursday.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, February 26, 2009
The six were charged by the Hague Tribunal prosecution for their alleged participation in the spring of 1999 deportation and murder of Kosovo Albanians.
The Trial Chamber with Scottish Judge Iain Bonomy will deliver its judgment in the case.
The trial opened on July 10, 2006 and ended on August 27, 2008; the indictment charged the accused former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, former federal Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, former chief of the Yugoslav Army (VJ) General Staff Dragoljub Ojdanic and the men who commanded the military and police units in the province, generals Nebojsa Pavkovic, Vladimir Lazarevic and Sreten Lukic.
In their closing statement, the defense teams asked for the acquittal of all the accused, while the prosecution called for sentences ranging from 20 years to life in prison for those found guilty.
There is one more ongoing trial for Kosovo crimes, that of Vlastimir Djordjevic, former chief of the Serbian Ministry of Interior Public Security Department.
