The Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Milos Pleskovic from Prizren to 15 years in prison

The Basic Court in Pristina has sentenced Milos Pleskovic from Prizren to 15 years in prison for the criminal offense of war crimes against the civilian population, allegedly committed in Prizren in 1998.

During the sentencing, Judge Rahman Beqiri stated that in 1998, near the Hoca Mahala neighborhood in Prizren, Pleskovic, as part of the Serbian police forces, participated in the killing of three civilians of Albanian ethnicity.

Pleskovic is also required to pay court costs in the amount of 200 euros.

He has been in detention since September 30, 2023, and during the trial he pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him.

Pleskovic stated in court that he was not even in Prizren at the time of the alleged crimes. His attorney, Jovana Filipovic, previously said that the witnesses who were heard confirmed with facts that the accused had no connection to the killings attributed to him.

“The witnesses we have had the opportunity to question so far have confirmed with facts that Milos has no connection to the murders he is being charged with. Meanwhile, the witness who gave a statement during the investigation that was most damaging to Pleskovic today confirmed before the court panel that he had merely shared his personal opinion. In other words, it was his personal assumption, as he himself admitted today, since he had certain disagreements with Milos during the 1998–1999 period, and therefore had a motive for harboring suspicions that are not aligned with the facts and evidence in this case,” Filipovic stated.