Persons indicted

Defendants: 1

Rank(s) of person(s) indicted

Defendant's rank: lower military

Indictment date

05/11/2012

Case stage

finally resolved

Duration of proceedings since trial commencement

2 years 10 months

Witnesses examined

15

Date and outcome of the first instance verdict

11/19/2012

First-instance judgment:
2 years in prison

Date and outcome of decision on appeal

03/08/2013

first-instance judgment abolished, new trial ordered

Date and outcome of verdict in new trial

06/21/2013

2 years in prison

Additional info

Appellate proceedings

03/20/2015

Decision on appeal:
The Appellate Court altered the lower court’s judgment and released the defendant from charges

Criminal offence

war crime against civilian population under art. 142 (1) re art. 22 (co-perpetration) of the FRY Criminal Act

Background facts

Background facts:
According to the indictment allegations, on 14 June 1999, the accused, AA - at the time soldier of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) - unlawfully arrested two Serbian civilians in Prizren, KM and hit one of them with a rifle butt. Later on the same day, АА and another KLA member released the two civilians alongside a third KLA captive, and ordered them to go to Serbia.

Procedural remarks

The OWCP built its case against АА on the basis of a photograph provided by the injured persons.
The photograph shows АА and three other KLA soldiers hitting with rifle butts and otherwise maltreating a civilian whose hands had been tied up with lengths of wire behind his back.