27 Aug 14
Former Yugoslav Army general Nebojsa Pavkovic, convicted of murders and deportations in Kosovo in 1999, will serve his 22-year sentence in Finland, rather than in Serbia as Belgrade would like.
Milka Domanovic
BIRN
Belgrade

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced on Tuesday that former Yugoslav Army general Nebojsa Pavkovic, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison in January, will be sent to a prison in Finland despite requests from Serbia for war crimes convicts to serve their jail time at home.

Pavkovic was convicted along with another Yugoslav Army general, Vladimir Lazarevic, former Yugoslav deputy prime minister Nikola Sainovic and former Serbian police general Sreten Lukic, who were found guilty of the murder, deportation and inhumane treatment of Kosovo Albanians in 1999.

An appeal in January upheld the initial verdict on the four men in 2009, when the court found that “there was a broad campaign of violence directed against the Kosovo Albanian civilian population conducted by forces under the control of the [Yugoslav] and Serbian authorities, during which there were incidents of killing, sexual assault, and the intentional destruction of mosques”.

Finland has indicated its willingness for Pavkovic to serve his jail term there, said the decision by the Hague Tribunal’s president, Theodor Meron, which was made on March 13 but only published on Tuesday.

Serbia has asked several times to become one of the countries in which the ICTY convicts can serve their sentences.

But according to the United Nations, which set up the Hague court, people convicted of war crimes should not serve their sentences in their country of origin.

The Serbian government said in May last year that UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon had filed a request to the Hague Tribunal to determine whether it is possible to fulfil Belgrade’s demand for Serbian convicts to serve their sentences at home.

The final decision, according to the ICTY’s rules, can only be made by the UN Security Council.

Pavkovic will remain in The Hague’s custody until he is transferred.