Racak

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic on Monday received former investigative judge Danica Marinkovic, who carried out a crime scene investigation following the January 15, 1999, armed clashes in Racak, Kosovo-Metohija.

Kosovo's Supreme Court said on Wednesday that it has overturned the verdict sentencing ex-minister Ivan Todosijevic to two years in prison for his comments about a January 1999 massacre of Kosovo Albanians in the village of Racak/Recak, which he claimed was staged.

Todosijevic was cleared of inciting ethnic, racial or religious intolerance with his comments.

Ivan Todosijevic, a Kosovo Serb MP from the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party, did not appear on Wednesday at noon as ordered by the court to begin his two-year prison sentence for inciting ethnic, racial or religious intolerance.

Florent Gashi, spokesperson for the Kosovo Correctional Service told BIRN that "the person in question so far has not appeared to serve his sentence".

Serb judges in the town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo refused to work on Wednesday in protest after MP Ivan Todosijevic was convicted of ethnic, racial or religious intolerance for his comments about the January 1999 massacre of 45 Kosovo Albanians in the village of Racak/Recak, which he claimed was staged.

The head of the Serbia's government's office for Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, said on Wednesday that the confirmation of the two-year sentence handed down to Kosovo MP and former minister Ivan Todosijevic was a "shameful, unacceptable and political verdict".

Kosovo Assembly President Kadri Veseli on Monday spoke at a gathering to honor the victims of "the Racak massacre," the website KoSSev has reported.

According to the report, citing the daily Lajmi, Veseli said that there can be "no international justice without justice for Racak," and that "the Racak massacre is a disgrace of international justice."

According to the report, citing the daily Lajmi, Veseli said that there can be "no international justice without justice for Racak," and that "the Racak massacre is a disgrace of international justice."

Photo: MFA

Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic says it is "obvious that lies had led to the intervention of the international community and the bombing of Serbia in 1999."

"There was an organized story since the formation of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) until the legitimization of their objectives," Dacic told RTS.

PRISTINA - Kosovo authorities are finishing preparations for erecting a monument to the ex Head of OSCE Mission in Kosovo William Walker, on January 15 2017 in the village of Racak.