Fifteen months in prison for attacking NATO troops in Kosovo

2024-06-24 19:59:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Fifteen months in prison for attacking NATO troops in Kosovo

Illustrative photo

A court in Pristina on Monday sentenced a member of the Serbian community to 15 months in prison for his involvement in the May 29, 2023, attack on NATO-led peacekeeping forces that left over 90 people injured. KFOR soldiers.

The court said that the accused, whom local media identified as Nenad Orlovi?, was convicted of the criminal offense of "assault against an official".

He was also sentenced to another 6 months for the crime of "participating in a crowd that commits a criminal offense and hooliganism", according to the court's decision, in which it is emphasized that this sentence was replaced by a fine of 12 thousand euros.

The convict was arrested on June 23, 2023 and has three months left to complete his sentence.

In the court's decision, it is stated that on May 29, 2023, "in the time interval starting from 06:00 until the evening hours, in the perimeter in which the object of the Municipality of Zveçan is located, the accused NO in coordination with many other defendants of Serbian nationality from Kosovo and Serbia, had actively participated in the group of persons in the commission of serious criminal offenses, in such a way that through the use of violence they had attacked and threatened the soldiers of the KFOR peacekeeping mission, use strong tools, improvised explosive devices and firearms...".

Violence broke out as groups of Serbian citizens protested against the sending of Albanian mayors to the buildings of the northern municipalities of Zveçan, Zubin Potok, Leposavic and North Mitrovica, following the April 23, 2023 elections that were boycotted by Serbian political parties.

So far, ten people have been arrested in connection with the violent riots of May 29 last year, but some of them are being protected at large.

The European Union imposed punitive measures against the government of Kosovo due to the tensions in the north, while asking it to fulfill some conditions for their removal.

The government agreed to organize new elections, through a vote to dismiss the current mayors, which failed in April due to a boycott of the vote by members of the Serbian community.

Last week, the head of the European Union's foreign policy, Josep Borrell, submitted a report to the EU member states regarding the fulfillment of the conditions for lifting the measures, and sources in Brussels said that the report proposes to lift them. There is still no decision on this matter./ Voa