A court in the town of Smederevo made its final ruling in an 11-year-old case on Friday, sentencing 27 people for the sale of diplomas at the Kragujevac University Law School.

The judges sentenced 16 law school staff and several others to between two and eight years in prison, freed four of the indicted and ordered a re-trial for three others. The indicted law school professors were all sentenced and the court freed the students charged with paying to pass exams.  

The scandal made headline news when the media revealed that professors at the law school in Kragujevac were taking money for grades and diplomas. The case was discovered in 2006 and the initial indictments were raised in 2007 with the trial opening in 2009. According to the indictment, the professors took between 500 and 1,000 Euro for exams and between 12,000 and 16,000 Euro for diplomas.  

The case was discovered by accident when a police inspector from Smederevo was offered a diploma by a mediator.