Hague Court Trims Sentences Of Serbs In Kosovo Case

Nikola Sainovic was originally sentenced to 22 years for his role in the atrocities.

Appeals judges at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague have reduced the sentences of three high-ranking Serb political, military, and police officials for atrocities committed against ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo.

Nikola Sainovic, Nebojsa Pavkovic, Sreten Lukic, and Vladimir Lazarevic had been convicted by the tribunal in 2009.

On January 23, judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) reduced Sainovic's 22-year sentence to 18 years. Lukic's 22-year sentence was trimmed by two years, while Lazarevic had his 15-year term cut by one year.

Judges kept Pavkovic's 22-year sentence in place.

At the time of the 1999 crackdown, Sainovic was Yugoslav deputy prime minister, Pavkovic was a top army commander, Lazarevic commanded the Pristina corps of the army, while Lukic was head of Serbian police in Kosovo.


With reporting by AP and dpa