Trnje

Belgrade Appeals Court has confirmed the verdict acquitting former Yugoslav Army brigade commander Pavle Gavrilovic of responsibility for the murders of Kosovo Albanian civilians in the village of Trnje/Terrne on March 25, 1999.

The court however upheld the conviction of his subordinate officer, Rajko Kozlina, sentencing him to 15 years in prison.

Belgrade Higher Court. Photo: BIRN.

Belgrade Higher Court on Tuesday sentenced former Yugoslav Army officer Rajko Kozlina to 15 years in prison for the murders of Kosovo Albanian civilians in the village of Trnje/Terrne on March 25, 1999, while acquitting his superior, Pavle Gavrilovic.

A former Serbian soldier told Belgrade Higher Court that there was no fighting in the village of Trnje in Kosovo in March 1999, when Serbian forces killed at least 27 ethnic Albanians.

Two former Yugoslav Army officers from the 549th Brigade told a court in Belgrade that they knew nothing about the attack on the village of Trnje in Kosovo in March 1999, when 27 Albanians were killed.

Relatives of people killed in the village of Trnje in 1999 they would not participate in the murder trial of two Serbian officers because Kosovo lawyers representing them have been barred.