WORLD BRIEFING / SERBIA
A war crimes court found four former policemen guilty of the massacre of 48 Kosovo Albanians and sentenced them to prison.
The Serbian court’s judges said the victims of the worst massacre of civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo war included 14 children, two infants, a pregnant woman and a 100-year-old woman.
After a three-year trial, two of the men were sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison, the third to 15 years and the fourth to 13 years. All had denied the charges. Three other men also charged with the killings were found not guilty, including the prime suspect, the commander of the special police unit involved in the massacre.
But the fact that the trial was held marked a shift in public policy, because Serbs who fought separatist ethnic Albanians in Kosovo are still revered by many as war heroes.
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