Court in Pristina again sentenced Dusko Arsic to 13 years in prison for alleged war crime

Dusko Arsic from Maticane near Pristina has been sentenced in a retrial before the Special Department of the Basic Court in Pristina to 13 years in prison for an alleged war crime committed in 1999 in the village of Butovac.

Time already served in prison will be deducted from the sentence, Judge Vesel Ismaili said.

In explaining the verdict, the judge stated that witness statements heard during the trial, as well as those given later, fully confirmed that the accused, Dusko Arsic, was a member of Serbian forces who, as he noted, “committed abuse and killings in the village of Butovac.”

“Based on all the evidence, the court confirmed that the accused committed the criminal act in co-perpetration and found him responsible, sentencing him to prison as stated in the operative part of this verdict,” Judge Ismaili said.

However, the court, based on the presentation of all individual evidence, did not manage to confirm that Dusko Arsic participated in the violent expulsion of citizens of Pristina or that he took part in looting and burning houses.

Arsic was first sentenced on February 2, 2024, also to 13 years in prison, but the Court of Appeals, following a defense appeal, ordered a retrial.

Arsic was arrested on December 8, 2021, at the Jarinje border crossing in the presence of his two minor children, after he went to resolve issues related to property in Maticane, near Pristina, that had been illegally occupied.

At the start of the trial, answering questions from prosecutor Durina Hamiti, he stated that he was in detention because of his property, which had been illegally sold.

“I ended up in prison because of my land,” he told the court.

Arsic, a surveyor by profession, said that in September, he had filed a lawsuit to recover his property, and three days later, a complaint was filed against him for alleged war crimes.

This is the third war crime verdict issued this year.

Earlier, on February 2, Muhamed Alidemaj was sentenced to 13 years in prison, and on February 3, Srdjan Lazovic was sentenced to twelve and a half years.