Belgrade war crimes court sentences former army officer

Toplica Miladinovic, a former Yugoslav Army (VJ) officer and commander of a territorial unit which included a paramilitary formation, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Special Section of the Higher Court in Belgrade after being found guilty of war crimes against the civilian population in the Pec area in 1999. Miladinovic was charged with ordering soldiers under his command to forcibly evict Kosovo Albanian civilians and of doing nothing to prevent or sanction killings and robberies.

Miladinovic was tried and sentenced with 6 others while 2 defendants were found not guilty. The nine former soldiers were tried for war crimes, including 118 Kosovo Albanians, committed in four villages in the area around the city of Pec in April and May 1999.

The trial started in 2010 with the initial sentence handed down in 2014 but being overturned by the Appeals Court in 2015.