Trajkovic sentenced without evidence, ruling aimed at expulsion of Serbs - gov't office

BELGRADE - The Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said on Friday Serb Sladjan Trajkovic had been sentenced to ten years in prison by a Pristina court without evidence or witnesses and noted that the ruling was a part of a broader plan aimed at intimidating the Serbs and expelling them from the province.

In a statement, the Office noted that the ruling was a continuation of an unlawful campaign against Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija and further evidence that, under Albin Kurti's rule, there was no law, justice, fair trial or respect for fundamental human rights for Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija.

Trajkovic was expelled from his native town of Vucitrn following the 1999 conflict in Kosovo-Metohija and found a home in the Kosovska Mitrovica neighbourhood of Bosnjacka mahala, where he lived peacefully with his family for a full 23 years until the Kurti regime set in motion its system of retaliation and repression against the Serbs through arbitrary arrests based on false indictments and without any credible witnesses, the Office said.

It also noted that Trajkovic had passed all security checks before joining the so-called Kosovo Police and had been arrested only after leaving the force.

That is sufficient testimony that his arrest, and now also the ruling in his trial, are politically motivated, it said.

The Office also said Trajkovic's health condition had deteriorated during a three-year incarceration and that he had faced numerous problems and violations of fundamental human rights, as also testified by his family on multiple occasions.

Earlier in the day, a basic court in Pristina sentenced Trajkovic to ten years in prison for an alleged war crime against civilians in the Vucitrn area during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo-Metohija.

His defence announced it would appeal against the first-instance ruling as it believed the court had not made a full and correct assessment of all evidence.