Belgrade Higher Court on April 24 found seven former members of the 177th Yugoslav Army Unit guilty of war crimes for their involvement in deadly attacks on four villages in the Peja/Pec area in April and May 1999 during the Kosovo war.
The 177th Yugoslav Army Unit’s commander, Toplica Miladinovic, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for knowingly ordering his subordinates to commit war crimes and other violations of the Geneva Conventions in the villages of Lubeniq/Ljubenic, Qyshk/Cuska, Pavlan/Pavljan, Zahaq/Zahac in April and May 1999.
During the attack, the defendants and other unit members allegedly burned houses, killed Kosovo Albanian civilians, and forced others to leave their homes. At least 118 ethnic Albanians were killed, according to the indictment.
The defendants were initially convicted in 2014 and sentenced to a total of 106 years in jail, but the appeal court reversed the verdict in 2015 and sent the case for retrial.
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