BBC News
Thursday, 21 December, 2000, 03:37 GMT

Serbia jails soldiers for
Kosovo crimes

Serb soldiers have not been held to account before

Three Serb soldiers have been jailed by a
Belgrade court for murder committed during the
Kosovo conflict last year.

It is the first time that
the Yugoslav army has
officially acknowledged
such crimes.

The conviction came at
the end of a
month-long trial at a
military court in the city
of Nis.

Correspondents say it is an indication that the
new Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, is
serious about coming to terms with the war
crimes committed by his countrymen during a
decade of conflict in the Balkans.

Soldier's mission

The men - an officer and two reservists - were
jailed for the murdering an elderly ethnic
Albanian couple in Kosovo.

The three Serbs, who had pleaded not guilty,
were given sentences of more than four years
each.

The officer, Major
Dragisa Petrovic, was
jailed for inciting the
murder after ordering
that all the villagers of
Gornja Susica, a village
near the Kosovo capital
Pristina, be driven out.

The case came to light
because another
Yugoslav soldier
followed up reports of
the murder and pushed
for the perpetrators to
be brought to justice.

"This is the first time that a court in Serbia has
cooperated with Unmik (the UN mission in
Kosovo) to uncover war crimes," said a
Belgrade-based human rights group, the
Humanitarian Law Fund.

Correspondents say it is unlikely that the trial
would have gone ahead if the former President,
Slobodan Milosevic, were still in power.

President Kostunica has said that Serbs must
confront crimes committed on their side of the
war, but has not moved against Mr Milosevic
himself, although he has been indicted by the
International War Crimes Tribunal.