| Three acquitted, four guilty in Suva Reka case |
| 23 April 2009 | 10:16 -> 14:58
| Source:
Beta |
BELGRADE --
The first accused in the Suva Reka war crimes trial has been acquitted of ordering the murders of 48 Albanian civilians.
Two of former special unit commander Radoslav Mitrović’s co-accused, his deputy Nenad Jovanović and territorial defense officer Zoran Petković, were also cleared.
Suva Reka Police Chief Radojko Repanović and Suva Reka police officer Slađan Čukarić were issued maximum sentences of 20 years, while the other two defendants, police officer Miroslav Petković and state security official Milorad Nišavić, received sentences of 13 and 15 years respectively.
The trial of seven Serbian police officers for ordering the murders of 48 members of the Berisha family on March 26, 1999, during the NATO air strikes, began on October 3, 2006.
Some 100 witnesses have testified in the case, including survivor Shureta Berisha, who was able to jump out of a truck transporting the corpses from Suva Reka to Prizren.
Former commander of the 37th special police unit Radoslav Mitrović, Suva Reka Police Chief Radojko Repanović and his deputy Nenad Jovanović are accused of ordering the killings.
Suva Reka police officers Slađan Čukarić and Miroslav Petković, territorial defense officer Zoran Petković and state security official Milorad Nišavić are also on the indictment.
They are accused of murdering the older members of the Berisha family on March 26, 1999, and then locking the rest of the men, women and children in a nearby pizzeria, into which they proceeded to throw two hand grenades.
They then shot at the victims, who included women, children, and the elderly. Before taking the bodies out of the pizzeria, they allegedly shot anyone still showing any signs of life.
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