Former Serbian president cleared of Kosovo crimes

UN judges yesterday acquitted former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic of ordering a deadly campaign of terror against Kosovo Albanians, and ordered him released from custody.

However, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal convicted five other senior Serbs and gave them prison sentences of between 15 and 22 years.

It was the court’s first judgment for Serb crimes in Kosovo.

Milutinovic’s acquittal was a blow to prosecutors who three years ago lost their chance of convicting former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic of similar crimes when he died of a heart attack before his trial ended.

In what was as close to a guilty verdict for Milosevic himself as the court has ever come, presiding judge Iain Bonomy of Scotland said Milosevic was the most powerful commander of Serb troops and military police who carried out a campaign of murder, rape and deportations that forced nearly 800,000 ethnic Albanians to flee Kosovo before NATO airstrikes forced a Serb withdrawal in mid-1999.

“In practice, it was Milosevic, sometimes termed the ‘Supreme Commander’ who exercised actual command authority over the (Serb army) during the NATO campaign,” Bonomy said.

The court ruled that Serbian president Milutinovic had no role in what they ruled was a criminal plot led by Milosevic to drive ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo as a way of retaining Serb control of the province.

Prosecution spokeswoman Olga Kavran said prosecutors will study the lengthy judgment before deciding whether to appeal.