Four Serbian ex-policemen sentenced for war crimes in Kosovo

Apr 23, 2009, 12:50 GMT

Belgrade - A Belgrade war crimes court on Thursday sentenced four Serbian ex-policemen to prison for the murder of Albanian civilians in Kosovo in 1999, but acquitted the man charged with ordering the murder.

Seven Serbian police officers were tried for the murders of 48 members of the Berisha family on March 26, 1999 in Suva Reka, Kosovo. The trial began in October 2006.

The court on Thursday acquitted former commander of Serbian special police forces Radoslav Mitrovic, who was charged with ordering the murder and two other policemen, while four others were sentenced to 13 to 20 years in prison.

The former policemen were accused of murdering the older members of the Berisha family and then locking the rest of the men, women and children in a nearby pizzeria into which they threw two hand grenades and then shot at the victims.

In 1999, when Kosovo was still a Serbian province, NATO bombed Serbia to stop the brutal crackdown by Serbian forces on Albanian insurgents.

In February 2008, the Albanian majority in Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. It was recognized by more than 55 countries including the United States and most of the European Union.