Montenegrin Jailed For Kosovo War Crimes

Podgorica, Montenegro, June 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Jun, 2019 ) :A Montenegrin man was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years for killing four ethnic Albanian civilians while serving as a volunteer in the Yugoslav army during the 1990s Kosovo war, a Podgorica court ruled.

Vlado Zmajevic, 49, committed the murders on March 30, 1999 in the village of Zegra in eastern Kosovo.

"The presented evidence proved without any doubt that war crimes were committed," judge Dragoje Jovovic said in delivering the verdict.

Zmajevic shot dead three men, and wounded a fourth victim, a woman, with a knife before shooting her with an automatic rifle, the indictment said.

He was arrested in 2016 in his hometown of Niksic.

His lawyer Ljiljana Koldzic told reporters she was "shocked" by the verdict and planned to appeal.

But Muhadin Haziri, whose parents were among Zmajevic's victims, said he was not satisfied with the sentencing.

"The punishment is too mild since four people were killed," he said, adding he hoped it would be increased in a later trial.

Kosovo's 1998-1999 war to win independence from Serbia was the last in the series of conflicts that unravelled Yugoslavia.

At the time Montenegro was still joined with Serbia as part of rump Yugoslavia, and its citizens served in the army.

Montenegro later declared independence in 2006.

The Kosovo conflict claimed more than 13,000 lives, mostly ethnic Albanians.

The war ended with the withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo after an 11-week NATO bombing campaign.