Three Serbs acquitted of war crime charges

PRISTINA - The mixed trial chamber of the Pristina Basic Court acquitted on Thursday three Serbs of charges that they committed a war crime during the conflicts in Kosovo-Metohija in 1999.

Brothers Slobodan and Srecko Martinovic and Svetlana Stojanovic were acquitted of charges due to lack of evidence, Srecko Martinovic's lawyer Dejan Vasic told Tanjug.

The Pristina Basic Court and the mixed trial chamber presided by judge Vladimir Mikula passed the ruling on Thursday acquitting brothers Slobodan and Srecko Martinovic and Svetlana Stojanovic of all charges, Vasic said.

He underscored that the court did not find enough evidence in the restaged trial and that the testimony of damaged Kosovo Albanian Seljatin Beciri was unconvincing.

The EULEX police arrested the three Serbs on September 24, 2009, on suspicion that they committed war crime against civilians during the conflicts in Kosovo-Metohija.

The Pristina court established that they are not guilty in the first-instance trial, but the prosecution appealed the ruling and the Appellate Court issued instructions for the trial to be restaged. The trial concluded on Thursday by the acquittal of Serb defendants.

Photo Tanjug S. Radovanovic Ilustration