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Serbia convicts diplomats for incident that strained ties with US
Oct 11, 2011, 14:21 GMT
Belgrade - A Belgrade court on Tuesday sentenced a former Serbian consul in New York to 18 months in prison for helping a compatriot wanted by the police flee the United States.
The consul, Igor Milosevic, issued Miladin Kovacevic, a college basketball player who severely battered a fellow Binghamton University student in May 2008, duplicate travelling documents despite knowing that his passport had been seized by US authorities.
Another diplomat, Slobodan Nenadovic, was handed a one-year suspended jail term for his role in the incident, which had strained Serbia's relations with the US.
Judges said the sentence took into account the fact that by abusing the authority of their office, the two diplomats had tarnished Serbia's image. The penalty under the charges they faced ranged from six months to five years.
Kovacevic, a hulking 2.05-metre athlete, who had beaten Brian Steinhauer into a coma in a bar near their campus, was eventually tried in Serbia.
After striking a plea bargain with prosecutors, he was in January sentenced to 27 months in prison - his plea bargain included a commitment to testify against Milosevic and Nenadovic.
Serbia paid Steinhauer's family 900,000 dollars for his injuries.
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