Serbian prosecutors charge 17 former Kosovo rebels for alleged war crimes

September 30th, 2009 Bosnian jailed in Serbia for war crimesBELGRADE, Serbia — A Serbian court on Monday convicted a wartime Bosnian security officer of ordering a 1992 attack on a Yugoslav army convoy that killed at least 50 soldiers and sentenced him to 12 years in prison The trial of Ilija Jurisic at the Serbian war crimes court has strained relations between Bosnia and Serbia. Bosnian officials had claimed the proceedings were staged and politically motivated and demanded his release.

September 23rd, 2009 Kosovo: EU police arrest 4 Serb war crime suspectsPRISTINA, Kosovo — Four Serbs were arrested Wednesday under suspicion of committing war crimes against ethnic Albanian civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, EU police said. NATO peacekeepers and Kosovo police also took part in the arrests in eastern Kosovo, said Karin Limdal, spokesman for the EU's 2,000-strong police and justice mission in Kosovo.

September 23rd, 2009 Serbia tries Kosovo ex-rebels for war crimesBELGRADE, Serbia — Seventeen former Kosovo rebels went on trial Wednesday before the Serbian war crimes court, charged with murder, rape and torture of Serb civilians in 1999. Nine of the men were arrested in December in a predominantly Albanian-populated region of Serbia bordering Kosovo.

September 22nd, 2009 2 Serbs acquitted in killing of American brothersBELGRADE, Serbia — The Serbian war crimes court acquitted two former Serb policemen Tuesday of collaborating in the execution-style slaying of three Albanian-American brothers in 1999. The former policemen were accused of torture and other crimes while handing over the three brothers — Illy, Mehmet and Agron Bytyqi — to members of a special Serbian police unit who shot and killed them in a training camp in eastern Serbia.

August 3rd, 2009 EU probing alleged Balkan organ traffickingBELGRADE, Serbia — Europe's top human rights watchdog launched a probe Monday into Serb allegations that ethnic Albanian guerrillas kidnapped Serb civilians during Kosovo's war, then removed their organs and sold the body parts on the black market. Leading the probe is Dick Marty, a Swiss senator representing the Council of Europe.

June 29th, 2009 Kosovo enters Int'l Monetary Fund, World BankWASHINGTON — Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, has become the 186th member of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Documents were signed and speeches made at the State Department on Monday to make Kosovo's accession official 16 months after the province's ethnic Albanian majority declared independence from Serbia.

June 25th, 2009 Kosovo ex-prime minister released from detentionSOFIA, Bulgaria — A Bulgarian court released Kosovo's former prime minister Thursday, two days after he was detained on an international arrest warrant issued by Serbia for alleged war crimes. The district court in the western city of Kyustendil decided to release Agim Ceku from custody.

June 18th, 2009 4 Serbs convicted for Kosovo massacreBELGRADE, Serbia — Four former members of a notorious Serb paramilitary unit were convicted Thursday of gunning down 14 Kosovo Albanian civilians, including children and the elderly, in 1999, and were sentenced to between 15 and 20 years in prison. The massacre in Kosovo's northern town of Podujevo was one of the most brutal single atrocities during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, during which an estimated 10,000 people were killed in fighting between guerrillas of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army and Serbian forces loyal to President Slobodan Milosevic.

June 11th, 2009 Serb lawyer quits trial of 3 slain US brothersBELGRADE, Serbia — A lawyer for the families of three Albanian-American brothers murdered execution-style in Serbia in 1999 said Thursday she is quitting their murder trial, claiming authorities are protecting those who ordered the slayings. Natasa Kandic, Serbia's leading human rights activist, told The Associated Press she has decided to stop participating in the trial of two Serb policemen because "it serves to protect the real killers and those who issued orders to execute the Bytyqi brothers." The bodies of the brothers — Illy, Mehmet and Agron Bytyqi — were found bound and blindfolded in a mass grave in 2001, two years after they had left their New York pizza business to join Kosovo rebels fighting for secession from Serbia.

June 11th, 2009 Bosnia TV shows fugitive Mladic in home videosSARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnian state television has broadcast several video clips it says show war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic living freely in Serbia despite genocide charges filed against him by a U.N. tribunal in 1995.

May 22nd, 2009 RUMA - Damir Dokic, the infamous dad of Australian tennis star Jelena Dokic, has been charged with threatening to endanger the safety of the Australian ambassador to Serbia and illegal bomb possession. The charges carry maximum jail terms of one and eight years respectively.

May 8th, 2009 Colombia expels Kosovo liberation leaderBOGOTA — Colombia's DAS domestic security agency says it has expelled former Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku based on an Interpol warrant for alleged war crimes. An agency official tells The Associated Press the warrant was issued by Serbia, from which Kosovo gained independence after an armed rebellion.

April 23rd, 2009 4 Serbs found guilty in Kosovo massacreBELGRADE, Serbia — A war crimes court on Thursday found four former Serbian policemen guilty of the massacre of 48 Kosovo Albanians and sentenced them to up to 20 years in prison. The Serbian court's judges said the victims of the worst single massacre of civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo war included 14 children, two infants, a pregnant woman and a 100-year-old woman.

April 23rd, 2009 4 Serbs found guilty of Kosovo massacreBELGRADE, Serbia — A war crimes court on Thursday found four Serbian former policemen guilty of the massacre of 48 Kosovo Albanians and sentenced them to up to 20 years in prison. The Serbian court's judges said the victims of the worst single massacre of civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo war included 14 children, two infants, a pregnant woman and a 100-year-old woman.

December 26th, 2008 BELGRADE - The Serbian police Friday arrested 10 former guerilla fighters of Kosovo Liberation Army suspeced of involvement in crimes against Serb and non-Albanian civilians in the former Serbian province of Kosovo in 1999, the authorities said. Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the suspects had been arrested in the southern town of Presevo, near the border with Kosovo, the official Serbian news agency Tanjug reported.