Kosovo calls 15-year prison sentence for Rajko Kozl

In a proposal on his Facebook profile, Hoxhaj has said that rejecting the responsibility for war crimes committed in Kosovo by Serbian forces is continuing after two decades of conflict.

“Kriminelli, who killed 31 civilians in Ternje in Theranda, including women, elders and children, is sentenced to only 15 years in prison in Serbia. This is not only a next injustice, but also an insult and double crime against victims, their families and the people of Kosovo”, Hoxhaj has said.

During the day, even the Fund for Humanitarian Law in Belgrade (FDH) through a communiqué of opinion has found Belgrade's Supreme Court ruling to be wrong in connection with the crime committed in Ternje, which after assessing the facts has freed Pavle Gavrilovic from responsibility, while the sentence pronounced for Rajko Kozlina says it is too low compared to the weight and consequences of the crime he committed, Fot reports Koha.

In the communique FDH recalls that the Supreme Court on Tuesday has made a decision to free Gavrillovic, while Kozlina is convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime committed in Ternje on March 25th 1999.

The Serbia War Crimes Prosecutor in 2013 has filed charges against two former members of the Yugoslav Army Motor Brigade 549 Battalion on March 25th 1999, where at least 31 Albanian civilians were killed, including one pregnant and seven children.

Gavrilovic was charged with having, in the command of the battalion superiors who commanded him, including Rajko Kozlina, to attack the village of Tarnje, saying “dares not remain any living”, while Kozlina, along with members of the attack group under his command, highlights that order, FHDH.

This NGO points out that the Court on the case of making the decision in this case has not entrusted to the claims of several members of the Brigade 549 that Gavrilovqi had given the order that on that March 25th of 1999 in the village of Trnje “must not have believed to remain any survivors, while according to the Court's assessment, in view of the fact that not all Tarnje residents had been killed that day, but some two days after that event had gone to the neighbouring village, it cannot be considered that Gavrillics had been implemented.

The court has found that Kozlina is responsible for killing 15 people and causing bodily injuries to two Albanian civilians in the village of Ternje,contains Koha.net FDH communique.

In the case of the court's conviction as a relief has taken over Kozlina's family circumstances (that he is married and father of a minor), that he is not convicted before, that there has not been any other criminal procedure to him, that at the time of performing this work, he has been employed, as well as the passage of time by the time of the crime has been committed, the communique points out.

On the other hand, as a serious circumstance, the Court has estimated that a large number of civilians have been killed, including children. The court, meanwhile, has given priority to the extenuating circumstances in the context of the fact that Kozlina has extremely murdered women and children, the Fund for Humanitarian Law stresses.

Too soft for such a serious crime is also a fact in favour of the claim that institutions in Serbia, which are competent for war crimes prosecution, do not have an elementary agreement with the families of war crimes victims, which two decades after the conflict even further cannot get the epilog of justice, the FHD concludes.