Popovic fined, banned from entering Kosovo-Metohija for two years

PRISTINA - A basic court in Pristina on Friday handed Igor Popovic, assistant director of Serbia's government Office for Kosovo-Metohija, a six-month prison sentence that was reverted to a 3,000 euro fine and a two-year ban from entering the territory of Kosovo-Metohija.

A judge said Popovic, who was not in attendance, would be deported later in the day.

The court said the ruling was based on a plea bargain agreement for an alleged criminal offence of "causing discord and intolerance."

On August 5, Pristina's special prosecutor's office said it had indicted Popovic for referring to the so-called "Kosovo Liberation Army" as a terrorist organisation at a Velika Hoca commemoration for Serbs killed in the Orahovac area in 1998 and 1999.

He was arrested at the Brnjak administrative crossing on July 18.