Tribunal Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Page 14535

 1                           Wednesday, 23 February 2011

 2                           [Judgement]

 3                           [Open session]

 4                           [The accused entered court]

 5                           --- Upon commencing at 2.16 p.m.

 6             JUDGE PARKER:  The Chamber is sitting today to deliver judgement

 7     in the trial of the accused, Vlastimir Djordjevic.

 8             For the purposes of this hearing, the Chamber will summarise

 9     briefly its findings, emphasising that this is a summary only and that

10     the only authoritative account of the Chamber's findings and its reasons

11     for those findings is to be found in the written judgement, copies of

12     which will be made available to the parties at the conclusion of this

13     sitting.

14             The accused, Vlastimir Djordjevic, is charged for his involvement

15     in crimes committed by Serbian forces, especially army, the VJ, and

16     police, the MUP, against Kosovo Albanians in Kosovo in 1999, principally

17     between March and June 1999.

18             In particular, it is alleged in the indictment that Serbian

19     forces systematically shelled towns and villages, burned homes and farms,

20     murdered over 800 Kosovo Albanian men, women, and children, damaged and

21     destroyed Kosovo Albanian cultural and religious institutions, and

22     sexually assaulted Kosovo Albanian women.  It is further alleged that

23     this conduct resulted in the deportation from Kosovo of approximately

24     800.000 Kosovo Albanians.

25             These allegations support the five charges in the indictment of


Page 14536

 1     crimes against humanity and war crimes.  These charges are for the crimes

 2     of deportation, forcible transfer, two counts of murder, one being

 3     charged as a war crime and the other as a crime against humanity, and

 4     persecutions.

 5             At the time of the events alleged in the indictment, the accused

 6     held the office of assistant Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia.  I

 7     will refer to the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the MUP, or the

 8     ministry.

 9             Within the ministry, he was the chief of the public security

10     department, the RJB, which may be likened to the position in many

11     countries of chief of the police force.  He held the rank of

12     Colonel-General, which was the highest rank within the MUP.  It is

13     alleged that, as chief of the public security department, he commanded

14     and exercised effective control over, in particular, the

15     Special Police Units, PJP, and of the Special Anti-terrorist Unit, SAJ,

16     and of the police force, regular and reserve police, as well as volunteer

17     groups and other units operating in concert with the police.

18             The accused is charged under Article 7(1) of the Statute of the

19     Tribunal with planning, instigating, ordering, and otherwise aiding and

20     abetting the alleged crimes.

21             The accused is also charged under Article 7(1) with committing

22     these five crimes by participating in a joint criminal enterprise, a JCE,

23     the purpose of which is alleged to have been to change the ethnic balance

24     in Kosovo so that Kosovo Albanians were no longer in the majority in

25     order to ensure continued Serbian control in Kosovo.


Page 14537

 1             It is also alleged in the indictment that the accused is liable

 2     under Article 7(3) of the Statute for failing to prevent the offences

 3     committed by police under his command and for failing to ensure the

 4     offenders were punished for the offences they committed.

 5             The accused was initially indicted in 2003, together with army

 6     General Nebojsa Pavkovic, army General Vladimir Lazarevic, and

 7     police General Sreten Lukic.  This case was subsequently joined with the

 8     similar case against Milan Milutinovic, the president of Serbia,

 9     Nikola Sainovic, the deputy prime minister of the Federal Republic of

10     Yugoslavia, FRY, and army General Dragoljub Ojdanic.  The trial of these

11     six other persons commenced in 2006, but the case against the accused was

12     delayed because he was still at large.  Eventually, he was arrested on

13     the 17th of June, 2007, in Montenegro, and was transferred to The Hague.

14             He pleaded not guilty to all counts in the indictment and has had

15     to be tried separately from the others.  His trial commenced on the

16     27th of January, 2009.  It has been a lengthy and complex case.  The

17     Chamber has heard over 140 witnesses and has admitted in evidence over

18     2.500 exhibits, including many orders and reports of the MUP and the VJ,

19     and records of meetings of the Serbian political, police and military

20     leaderships.

21             For the Tribunal to have power to deal with the crimes charged

22     against the accused, it must be proved by the Prosecution that an armed

23     conflict existed in Kosovo at the time.  And for crimes against humanity,

24     that the crimes charged were committed in the context of a widespread or

25     systematic attack against a civilian population.  For reasons set out in


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 1     the written judgement, the Chamber is satisfied that by the end of

 2     May 1998 an armed conflict existed in Kosovo between Serbian forces, in

 3     particular forces of the VJ and the MUP, and the force usually referred

 4     to as the Kosovo Liberation Army, the KLA.  This armed conflict continued

 5     until at least June 1999.

 6             In addition, on 24 March 1999, NATO commenced military operations

 7     in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, so that the Chamber is also

 8     satisfied that from 24 March 1999, until the end of hostilities in

 9     June 1999, an international armed conflict existed in Kosovo between

10     Serbian forces and the forces of NATO.

11             Having considered, in particular, the scale of destruction and

12     damage to Kosovo Albanian civilian property, the loss of civilian lives,

13     and the displacement of Kosovo Albanians in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999, the

14     Chamber is satisfied that the offences charged took place in the context

15     of an armed conflict in which there was a widespread and systematic

16     attack against the civilian Kosovo Albanian population.

17             Hence, the preliminary requirements of Article 3, war crimes, and

18     Article 5, crimes against humanity, of the Statute have thus been proved.

19             As discussed in detail in Chapter VI of the judgement, beginning

20     relevantly on 24 March 1999, a consistent pattern of events occurred in

21     many towns, villages, and other locations throughout Kosovo.  By way of

22     typical example, in the early morning hours, VJ and MUP forces would

23     approach a village, town, or other location.  The VJ, using tanks

24     armoured vehicles and other heavy weapons, would shell the residential

25     area, causing the Kosovo Albanian population to flee from their homes.


Page 14539

 1     Serbian forces, in most cases police, would then enter the area on foot,

 2     typically setting houses on fire and looting valuables.  In some cases,

 3     following these events, VJ and MUP forces then ordered the whole

 4     population to leave, sometimes physically harming individuals and looting

 5     people's valuables.

 6             In many of these locations, after the initial shelling by the VJ,

 7     Serbian forces, in several cases specifically identified as forces of the

 8     MUP, then approached the residents and typically separated the men from

 9     the women and young children, ordered the women and children to leave to

10     go to Albania, and then killed all the men, usually having first divided

11     them into smaller groups and taken each group to an isolated location.

12             Many residents and displaced persons who witnessed heavy property

13     destruction and damage, as well as killings by Serbian forces, by their

14     own decision left their town, village, or city in large numbers out of

15     fear for their lives and welfare.  Serbian forces coordinated the process

16     by directing the mass movements of Kosovo Albanian residents away from

17     their towns and villages, often organising road or rail transport, and in

18     most cases ensuring that the people reached and crossed the border,

19     mostly into Albania or the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

20     Massive columns or convoys of Kosovo Albanian people moving to Albania or

21     to Macedonia formed throughout Kosovo and eventually crossed the border

22     out of Kosovo.  Some Kosovo Albanians even crossed the border into

23     Montenegro.

24             It was the Defence contention that there were many reasons why

25     people left Kosovo at the time, including the state of war between the


Page 14540

 1     FRY and NATO, the NATO bombing, fighting between the KLA and Serbian

 2     forces, sanctions and wartime conditions, evacuations and deliberate

 3     population movements directed by the KLA.  It was also contended that the

 4     non-Albanian population of Kosovo was also leaving Kosovo at a comparable

 5     rate.

 6             In determining whether the offences of deportation or forcible

 7     transfer have been established, the Chamber has relied on the evidence

 8     establishing the circumstances in which people left towns, villages, and

 9     cities in the 13 municipalities listed in the indictment.  From this

10     evidence, the Chamber is satisfied that the offences of deportation or

11     forcible transfer have been established with respect to some 60 specific

12     locations, which are listed in the written judgement.

13             With respect to each of these locations for which the offences of

14     forcible transfer or deportation have been established, the evidence does

15     not reveal that people were leaving because of NATO bombing or because of

16     fighting between the Serbian forces and the KLA or because of hardship

17     caused by sanctions or wartime conditions, as the Defence has contended.

18             On the contrary, the evidence discloses, as discussed in detail

19     in the judgement, that the Kosovo Albanian people left Kosovo because

20     they were specifically ordered to do so by Serbian forces or because the

21     conduct of Serbian forces caused them to leave, in particular by

22     shelling, shooting, killing, and by burning houses and other buildings in

23     their villages, towns, and cities.

24             While factors such as NATO bombing and fighting between the

25     Serbian forces and the KLA may have caused some concern in the minds of


Page 14541

 1     some Kosovo Albanians, the factor which was dominant and compelling in

 2     causing Kosovo Albanians to leave their homes, and in many cases causing

 3     them to leave Kosovo, was the deliberate campaign of violence and terror

 4     conducted against Kosovo Albanian civilians by Serbian forces.

 5             In this respect, it is significant that in most cases

 6     identification documents and vehicle licence plates were seized from the

 7     Kosovo Albanians before they crossed the border out of Kosovo.  This

 8     seizure was by Serbian police and VJ.  Had this displacement of

 9     Kosovo Albanians been the consequence of NATO bombing or of fighting

10     between the KLA and Serbian forces, or the like, it is not apparent why

11     Kosovo Albanian refugees would be stripped of their identification

12     documents.

13             Telling, in this respect, is the evidence of

14     General Karol John Drewienkiewicz and Colonel Richard Ciaglinski, two

15     British officers, who observed MUP officers burning tens of thousands of

16     identification documents in a courtyard adjacent to the MUP building in

17     Pristina/Prishtine on 12 and 13 June 1999, which is just before the

18     cessation of hostilities in Kosovo and when Serbian forces were about to

19     leave Kosovo.

20             As indicated, the Chamber is satisfied that the offences of

21     deportation and forcible transfer have been established with respect to

22     some 60 locations listed in the written judgement.  These were spread

23     over 13 municipalities charged in the indictment.

24             While over 800.000 Kosovo Albanians left Kosovo in the period

25     relevant to the indictment, this trial is only concerned with those from


Page 14542

 1     the villages, towns, and other locations specified in the indictment.

 2     The evidence is not sufficient to enable reliable findings as to the

 3     numbers of Kosovo Albanians proved to have been deported from these

 4     specific locations to Albania and Macedonia, or in some cases to

 5     Montenegro, between the 24th of March, 1999, and the 20th of June, 1999.

 6     It can be concluded from the evidence that this number was at least

 7     200.000.  However, this estimate is incomplete and very conservative, and

 8     the true figure is likely to be very much higher.

 9             The indictment also alleges the criminal responsibility of

10     Vlastimir Djordjevic for the murder of hundreds of Kosovo Albanians,

11     including 840 persons known by name and specifically listed in the

12     schedules of the indictment.

13             The Chamber is satisfied that the charges of murder as alleged in

14     the indictment have been proved with respect to the many locations in

15     Kosovo specified in the judgement.  In particular, the Chamber has found

16     that not less than 724 Kosovo Albanians were murdered by Serbian forces,

17     in most cases police.  In the large majority of cases, the victims,

18     including women and children, were civilians, who were unarmed and not in

19     any way participating in any form of armed conflict.

20             I would emphasise that this trial is not concerned with members

21     of the KLA killed in combat with Serbian forces.  However, some of those

22     murdered may have been members of the KLA, but when killed, they were

23     prisoners of the Serbian forces, unarmed, and unable to participate in

24     any form of armed conflict.  No attempt was made to identify or arrest

25     individuals for the purpose of investigation or trial as terrorists or


Page 14543

 1     suspected terrorists.

 2             The Chamber notes also that it is clear from the evidence that

 3     the murder offences charged in the indictment are merely examples, and by

 4     no means exhaustive, of the crimes committed by Serbian forces,

 5     especially police, against the Kosovo Albanian population in the course

 6     of the widespread and systematic attack referred to.

 7             By way of three examples, on the 26th of March 1999,

 8     approximately 114 men and boys, the male inhabitants of a village in the

 9     Orahovac/Rahovec municipality were forced by police into a barn in the

10     village.  One of the men was disabled; his wheelchair was used by the

11     police to block an entrance door.  When all the men and boys were inside

12     the barn, the police shot them with automatic rifles.  The police then

13     poured incendiary liquid over the bodies, placed maize on top of them,

14     and set the barn on fire.

15             As another example, not less than 45 members of one family were

16     killed in Suva Reka/Suhareke town by police on 26th of March, 1999.  Some

17     were killed at their homes.  An elderly couple were shot as they tried to

18     flee from the houses.  Then, 35 members of the family, mainly women and

19     young children, sought refuge in a nearby cafe.  Police threw hand

20     grenades inside the cafe and then opened fire on them, killing 32 women

21     and children.

22             In another town, Podujevo/Podujeve, in the courtyard of their

23     house, Serbian forces lined up and shot 19 women and children, members of

24     two families.  Of these, 14 women and children were killed.  While five

25     of the children survived the incident, they sustained severe injuries,


Page 14544

 1     many of them permanent.

 2             These examples demonstrate that the conduct was not part of a

 3     genuine police operation to locate and arrest terrorists.

 4             As detailed in the written judgement, the Chamber is also

 5     satisfied that the crimes of forcible transfer, deportation and murder

 6     established in the judgement were committed with the intent to

 7     discriminate against the Kosovo Albanian population in Kosovo --

 8                           [B/C/S on English channel]

 9             JUDGE PARKER: -- on the basis of their ethnicity.

10             We have a technical problem.  It's now been restored.  We

11     continue.

12             The Chamber is also satisfied that the offence of persecutions by

13     the deliberate destruction of mosques by Serbian forces has been

14     established.  The destruction of these mosques occurred pursuant to a

15     campaign by Serbian forces which included the systematic damage and

16     destruction of cultural monuments and Muslim sacred sites of the

17     Kosovo Albanian population.

18             While the Chamber has found that incidents of sexual assault have

19     been established, no evidence has been presented that the perpetrators

20     acted with intent to discriminate.  Intent to discriminate is an

21     essential element which must be proved.  Therefore, the charge of

22     persecutions committed through sexual assault has not been established.

23             The accused did not personally commit any of the crimes charged.

24     They were committed by Serbian forces, many of whom were police under his

25     command.  Nevertheless, it is alleged by the Prosecution on several bases


Page 14545

 1     that the accused is criminally responsible for the commission of the

 2     crimes.  In this summary, the Chamber will deal -- mention, briefly,

 3     three of these bases for criminal responsibility.  Joint criminal

 4     enterprise, aiding and abetting the crimes, and command responsibility.

 5             A primary allegation against the accused in the indictment is

 6     that he participated in a joint criminal enterprise, that is, a common

 7     plan, which, as noted earlier, had the alleged purpose of changing the

 8     ethnic balance in Kosovo.  This objective was to be achieved through

 9     criminal means consisting of a widespread and systematic campaign of

10     terror and violence against Kosovo Albanians and which included the

11     crimes charged.

12             The accused denied that there was any such common plan formed by

13     a group of persons which included the accused.  The Defence submits that

14     where crimes were committed in Kosovo during the indictment period, these

15     were the result of isolated incidents perpetrated by random individuals.

16     As mentioned already, it is contended that any coordinated actions by the

17     VJ and MUP in 1998 and 1999 were directed only at terrorist forces, and

18     so were legitimate under customary international law.

19             The Chamber was not able to accept these arguments.  While

20     operations leading to the deaths of some Kosovo Albanians may have been

21     conducted under the guise of anti-terrorist operations, and that may have

22     been among the objectives, it is starkly clear from the evidence that

23     these operations were not limited to members of the KLA.  The nature of

24     the crimes that have been established and the circumstances in which they

25     were committed clearly demonstrates that the target of this campaign was


Page 14546

 1     the Kosovo Albanian population.

 2             In the finding of the Chamber, the operations were typically

 3     aimed at terrorising the Kosovo Albanian population in cities, towns, and

 4     villages.  This was achieved by a variety of means, including shelling of

 5     populated areas with heavy weapons; terrorising the people there by

 6     threats, violence, and killings; setting on fire Kosovo Albanian civilian

 7     property; and the destruction of villages.

 8             The civilian population, or those of it who were not killed, in

 9     many cases were forced to leave their homes, villages, or towns, in most

10     cases to join others to be transported across a nearby border or to join

11     columns of displaced persons directed by Serbian forces across the

12     borders.  The scale and coordination of the actions of Serb forces

13     confirms that a common plan existed.  The common plan required the

14     agreement and participation of political leaders of the FRY and Serbia,

15     the leadership of the VJ, including the relevant corps in Kosovo, and the

16     leadership of the MUP, including its staff in Kosovo.  For reasons set

17     out in the written judgement, the Chamber is satisfied that persons in

18     these roles acted in unison to effect the joint criminal enterprise.

19             Among the core members of this group of persons, the political

20     component included Slobodan Milosevic, the president of the

21     Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; and Nikola Sainovic, the deputy prime

22     minister of the FRY and responsible for Kosovo.  The MUP membership of

23     the joint criminal enterprise included Vlajko Stojiljkovic, minister of

24     the interior; the accused, Vlastimir Djordjevic, chief of the RJB;

25     Radomir Markovic, chief of the state security department; and Sreten


Page 14547

 1     Lukic, head of the MUP staff for Kosovo.

 2             The Defence contended further that the accused could not have

 3     made a significant contribution to any such common plan.  The core of the

 4     Defence case is built upon the evidence and submission of the accused

 5     that he did not have effective control over the use of MUP forces in

 6     Kosovo because the late Minister Stojiljkovic had excluded him.  The

 7     accused also denied that the Joint Command for Kosovo, the body which

 8     coordinated Serbian forces including the police in Kosovo, existed.

 9             Contrary to the Defence's position, the accused's participation

10     in the joint criminal enterprise was crucial to its success.  The Chamber

11     has found that as head of the RJB and as an assistant minister of

12     interior, the accused had lawful powers and exercised effective control

13     over the police in Kosovo, including regular and reserve police, the PJP,

14     and SAJ, during the indictment period.  The evidence reveals that the

15     accused had detailed knowledge of events on the ground and played a key

16     role in coordinating the work of the MUP forces in Kosovo in 1998 and

17     1999.  The accused was a member of the Joint Command, which, contrary to

18     the accused's evidence, coordinated Serbian forces, including the police,

19     in Kosovo.

20             He was often present on the ground in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999,

21     and also attending meetings of the MUP staff in Kosovo.  He was aware of

22     the criminal conduct of the police and other Serbian forces in Kosovo

23     from his personal observations and from information provided by others.

24     He was also aware that the Serb population in Kosovo had been armed by

25     the army and the MUP to provide an additional Serbian force.


Page 14548

 1             Contrary to the accused's evidence that he had been excluded by

 2     Minister Stojiljkovic, the accused represented the Republic of Serbia in

 3     international negotiations on the role of the police in Kosovo in

 4     October 1998.

 5             The Defence advanced throughout the trial that there were no Serb

 6     paramilitary forces in Kosovo at the material time.  Despite this denial,

 7     it has been established by the evidence that there were Serbian

 8     paramilitary forces active in Kosovo in the indictment period, many

 9     serving with police units.  Further, the accused was personally and

10     directly involved in the engagement of one such unit, the Skorpions, into

11     the MUP reserve force in 1999.  This unit was directly involved in the

12     shooting of 19 Kosovo Albanian women and children in one town, killing 14

13     of them.  The accused was informed of these killings almost immediately

14     after they occurred.  The unit was withdrawn from Kosovo but no effective

15     investigation followed.  The accused was aware of the lack of

16     investigation but nonetheless authorised the redeployment of members of

17     the same unit back to Kosovo a few days later.

18             The Chamber was also satisfied that the accused was instrumental

19     in MUP efforts to conceal the murders of Kosovo Albanians during the

20     indictment period.  As discussed in detail in the written judgement, the

21     evidence confirms that from the second week of April 1999, on at least

22     six occasions over a period of several weeks, trucks containing bodies of

23     Kosovo Albanians killed by Serbian forces in Kosovo arrived at the

24     13 Maj SAJ centre in Batajnica near Belgrade.  This centre is controlled

25     by the MUP.  It is over 400 kilometres from where the people were killed


Page 14549

 1     in Kosovo.  At least two further deliveries of bodies were made to the

 2     Petrovo Selo PJP centre, another MUP site in Serbia.  Bodies were also

 3     recovered from Lake Perucac in Serbia and buried in a mass grave site by

 4     the lake.  The bodies had been in a truck which was found in the lake.

 5             In 2001, the remains of 744 individuals were exhumed from the SAJ

 6     centre in Batajnica, 61 from Petrovo Selo, and 84 from Lake Perucac.  The

 7     remains were of Kosovo Albanians who had been killed in Kosovo in 1999.

 8     Despite the condition of the remains after being buried for over two

 9     years, it was determined that the most probable cause of death of the

10     vast majority of these bodies was multiple gun shot wounds or was

11     consistent with gunshot wounds.

12             The accused played a leading role in the MUP efforts to conceal

13     these murders.  He gave instructions for the clandestine transportation

14     of bodies found in a refrigerator truck in the Danube River to the SAJ

15     training centre at Batajnica near Belgrade and their secret reburial in a

16     mass grave at the SAJ centre.  He gave instructions for the immediate

17     burial of the bodies found in Lake Perucac on the site.

18             In both cases, the accused gave specific orders to preclude

19     judicial investigations.

20             The Chamber has found that the transportation of bodies from

21     Kosovo for clandestine burial in mass graves on MUP grounds was

22     undertaken as part of a coordinated operation to remove evidence of

23     crimes committed by Serbian forces against Kosovo Albanians in Kosovo

24     during the indictment period.

25             In the Chamber's finding, this operation was conducted under the


Page 14550

 1     direction of the accused, in consultation with Minister Stojiljkovic,

 2     pursuant to an order of the president of the FRY, Slobodan Milosevic.

 3             While it was his duty under the law to have the emergence of the

 4     bodies properly investigated, the role the accused played ensured that

 5     the bodies were not the subject of investigation at the time.

 6             The Chamber is also satisfied that despite being aware of crimes

 7     committed by MUP forces in Kosovo, at no time during the indictment

 8     period, or thereafter while he remained the head of the RJB, did the

 9     accused take any measures to ensure the investigation of the crimes or

10     the punishment of those involved in their commission.

11             The Chamber is satisfied that the accused's conduct, as described

12     in the summary of findings above, contributed significantly to the

13     campaign of terror and extreme violence by Serbian forces against

14     Kosovo Albanians, which had the purpose of changing the demographic

15     composition of Kosovo.

16             The Chamber is also satisfied that through his direct involvement

17     in the concealment of bodies of Kosovo Albanian victims of murder and his

18     complete failure to ensure the investigation of crimes committed by MUP

19     forces during the indictment period, the accused aided and abetted the

20     crimes established in the judgement.  These facts are sufficiently

21     compelling to also require a conviction for aiding and abetting, as well

22     as the conviction for participating as a member of the joint criminal

23     enterprise, in order to fully encapsulate the accused's criminal conduct.

24             For reasons set out in the written judgement, the Chamber is also

25     satisfied of the accused's responsibility under Article 7(3) for his


Page 14551

 1     failure to prevent the commission of the crimes established in this

 2     judgement by persons under his effective control and for his failure to

 3     punish the perpetrators of these crimes.  However, by virtue of its

 4     adverse finding under Article 7(1), it is not open to the Chamber to also

 5     convict the accused under Article 7(3).

 6             Vlastimir Djordjevic, would you please stand.

 7             The Chamber finds you guilty, pursuant to Article 7(1) of the

 8     Statute, of the following offences:

 9             Count 1, deportation, a crime against humanity under Article 5 of

10     the Statute, for having committed the crime of deportation through your

11     participation in a joint criminal enterprise and for having aided and

12     abetted the deportation of Kosovo Albanians from the locations specified

13     in it the judgement.

14             Count 2, other inhumane acts, forcible transfer, under Article 5

15     of the Statute, for having committed the crime of forcible transfer

16     through your participation in a joint criminal enterprise and for having

17     aided and abetted the forcible transfer of Kosovo Albanians from the

18     locations specified in the judgement.

19             Count 3, murder, a crime against humanity under Article 5 of the

20     Statute, for having committed the crime of murder through your

21     participation in a joint criminal enterprise and for having aided and

22     abetted the murder of not less than 724 Kosovo Albanians identified in

23     the schedule to this judgement.

24             Count 4, murder, a violation of the laws or customs of war, under

25     Article 3 of the Statute, for having committed the crime of murder


Page 14552

 1     through your participation in a joint criminal enterprise and for having

 2     aided and abetted the murder of not less than 724 Kosovo Albanians,

 3     taking no active part in the hostilities identified in the schedule to

 4     this judgement.

 5             Count 5, persecutions, on racial grounds, a crime against

 6     humanity, under Article 5 of the Statute, for having committed the crime

 7     of persecutions through your participation in a joint criminal enterprise

 8     and for having aided and abetted the persecutions against

 9     Kosovo Albanians through deportation, forcible transfer, murder, and

10     destruction or damage to property of cultural and religious significance

11     to Kosovo Albanians at locations specified in this judgement.

12             With respect to sentence, the Chamber has set out in the written

13     judgement the many matters that have been taken into account in

14     determining the appropriate sentence.

15             You are sentenced to a single sentence of 27 years' imprisonment.

16     Full credit will be given for the time you spent in custody.  You will

17     remain in the custody of the Tribunal pending the finalisation of

18     arrangements for your transfer to the state where you will serve your

19     sentence.

20             You may sit down.

21             That concludes this trial.

22             The Chamber will now adjourn.

23                           --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 3.06 p.m.

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