BELGRADE -22 September 2009 -- The war crimes chamber in Belgrade has cleared Sreten Popović and Miloš Stojanović of complicity in the murder of the Bytyqi brothers in 1999.

The funeral of the Bytyqi brothers in 2002 (FoNet, archive)

Justifying the verdict, Judge Vesko Krstajić (presiding) said that the “events described in the updated indictment of September 3 were not proven during the presentation of evidence.”

Krstajić stressed that the updated indictment, in which the defendants were accused of complicity in the murder, with omitted the qualification “accessories to murder.”

In the new indictment Popović and Stojanović were accused of obstructing the right to a fair trial and torture.

“Having listened to over 50 witnesses and experts, we came to the conclusion that they were not guilty of the crimes they were accused of,” said the judge.

He said that the Bytyqi brothers had had the status of prisoners-of-war, which meant that there could be no question of their unlawful arrest in front of the prison in Prokuplje, which the two defendants were accused of.

However, Krstajić said that what was disturbing was “the fact that three young men were killed, and it’s completely unclear why and in whose interests.”

The War Crimes Prosecution is unhappy with the verdict and says it will appeal, while defense counsel Božo Prelević said that justice had been done.

“The murder of the Bytyqi brothers was a heinous, serious crime, but the trial did not establish who killed them or what the motive was,” Prelević told reporters outside court.

He stressed that he did not expect the Supreme Court to overturn the verdict.

The trial of Sreten Popović and Miloš Stojanović, former members of the Serbian Interior Ministry, began on November 13, 2006. They were suspected of handing the Bytyqi brothers over to unknown Interior Ministry officials, who killed them in July 1999, in Petrovo Selo.

Source:b92 Photo: Fonet