Five Serbian generals sentenced to 89 years for crimes in Kosovo, 180 years sought for 4 KLA commanders

More than 10 Albanians were killed by Serbian-Yugoslav police, military and paramilitary forces during the Kosovo war in 1998-1999.

More than 1 people are still considered forcibly disappeared in the war.It is estimated that around 20 Albanian women were sexually assaulted during this period.

The damage and destruction amount to many billions of euros.

For all these crimes committed in Kosovo, international courts have convicted only five Serbs. In total, their sentences do not even reach 100 years. In fact, all of them were given a total of only 89 years.

On the other hand, the Special Prosecutor’s Office within what is known as the Hague Special Court, created by Kosovo and operating under Kosovo law, has requested sentences of no less than 180 years for the four KLA commanders in the Thaçi et al. case. 45 for each – Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.

In the case of sentences for Serbs, the highest, according to data from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), was 22 years, while no one received life imprisonment. Likewise, no verdicts were issued for genocide in Kosovo.

All of them were part of a case known as “Milutinović et al.”, named after the former president of Serbia, Milan Milutinović, who was, however, found not guilty of this charge.

The longest sentence of 22 years was given to General Nebojša Pavković, who was the commander of the Yugoslav Army in Kosovo. He was found guilty of the crimes of murder, persecution and deportation of Albanians.

The second Serbian official to be convicted was Sreten Lukic, the head of the Serbian Police for Kosovo. He was given 20 years in prison.

The third Serb found guilty was Vlastimir Đorđević, a senior official in the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for deportations, murders, and hiding the bodies of Albanian civilians in mass graves across Serbia.

The fourth-longest sentence for a Serbian state official in connection with the Kosovo war was that of Dragoljub Ojdanić, Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army. He was given 15 years in prison for aiding and abetting crimes in Kosovo.

The fifth Serb to be convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison was General Vladimir Lazarevic, who had served as commander of the Pristina Corps in the Yugoslav Army. He was convicted of the crimes of deportation and persecution of Albanians./KosovaPress