Post by Caslav Klonimirovic on Mar 15, 2009 18:01:17 GMT -5
www.reuters.com/article/europeCrisis/idUSBYT332171
Panel frees Albanian jailed for Kosovo bus bombing
Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:38am EDT Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text [+]
PRISTINA, March 13 (Reuters) - A panel of international judges ordered the release of an ethnic Albanian convicted of a 2001 bus bombing that killed 11 Serbs in Kosovo, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
Florim Ejupi received a 40-year sentence last year after he was found guilty of planting and detonating a bomb that killed 11 people and injured 22 on a bus carrying Serbian pilgrims to the monastery town of Gracanica. He appealed against the verdict.
"He is released," Karin Limdal, spokeswoman for the European Union police and justice mission (EULEX). She did not give a reason for the decision.
The EULEX mission, composed of international police officers, customs agents, judges and prosecutors, was deployed in Kosovo in December to help the Balkan country build up its institutions.
The mission helps to settle unresolved cases, including more than 1,200 war crimes cases and others related to organised crime.
Kosovo Serbs oppose the deployment of the mission because of its close cooperation with Pristina institutions.
Kosovo, where 90 percent of the 2 million people are ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, with the backing of the West. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci. Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Andrew Dobbie)
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glassrbije.org/E/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6546&Itemid=26
FHL: Acquittal of Ejupi – legally inconceivable
March 15, 2009
The Kosovo Fund for Humanitarian Law assessed that acquittal of Florim Ejupi for the terrorist attack against the Nis Express bus near Podujevo is inconceivable from the legal point of view and unacceptable for families of victims and those who survived. It would have been more adequate had the Kosovo Supreme Court opened a new process, showed evidence and heard witnesses and thus eliminated criticism and discontent of victims’ families, the communiqué reads. The Fund underlines that absolutely opposed decisions of the first- and second-instance courts, where international judges had crucial roles, open the issue of EULEX readiness to help Kosovo judiciary in establishing rule of law and combat impunity. On March 13 2009, due to lack of evidence, the Kosovo Supreme Court Chamber acquitted Kosovo Albanian Florim Ejupi of charges for the terrorist attack against the Nis Express bus near Podujevo on February 16 2001 when 11 Serb civilians were killed and 22 injured, which is one of the gravest crimes committed against the Kosovo Serbs after the arrival of international forces in Kosovo.
Panel frees Albanian jailed for Kosovo bus bombing
Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:38am EDT Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text [+]
PRISTINA, March 13 (Reuters) - A panel of international judges ordered the release of an ethnic Albanian convicted of a 2001 bus bombing that killed 11 Serbs in Kosovo, a spokeswoman said on Friday.
Florim Ejupi received a 40-year sentence last year after he was found guilty of planting and detonating a bomb that killed 11 people and injured 22 on a bus carrying Serbian pilgrims to the monastery town of Gracanica. He appealed against the verdict.
"He is released," Karin Limdal, spokeswoman for the European Union police and justice mission (EULEX). She did not give a reason for the decision.
The EULEX mission, composed of international police officers, customs agents, judges and prosecutors, was deployed in Kosovo in December to help the Balkan country build up its institutions.
The mission helps to settle unresolved cases, including more than 1,200 war crimes cases and others related to organised crime.
Kosovo Serbs oppose the deployment of the mission because of its close cooperation with Pristina institutions.
Kosovo, where 90 percent of the 2 million people are ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia in February 2008, with the backing of the West. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci. Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Andrew Dobbie)
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glassrbije.org/E/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6546&Itemid=26
FHL: Acquittal of Ejupi – legally inconceivable
March 15, 2009
The Kosovo Fund for Humanitarian Law assessed that acquittal of Florim Ejupi for the terrorist attack against the Nis Express bus near Podujevo is inconceivable from the legal point of view and unacceptable for families of victims and those who survived. It would have been more adequate had the Kosovo Supreme Court opened a new process, showed evidence and heard witnesses and thus eliminated criticism and discontent of victims’ families, the communiqué reads. The Fund underlines that absolutely opposed decisions of the first- and second-instance courts, where international judges had crucial roles, open the issue of EULEX readiness to help Kosovo judiciary in establishing rule of law and combat impunity. On March 13 2009, due to lack of evidence, the Kosovo Supreme Court Chamber acquitted Kosovo Albanian Florim Ejupi of charges for the terrorist attack against the Nis Express bus near Podujevo on February 16 2001 when 11 Serb civilians were killed and 22 injured, which is one of the gravest crimes committed against the Kosovo Serbs after the arrival of international forces in Kosovo.