The US calls Serbia to account: Unintelligible Trial Stake in Belgrade Embassy Burning Case

The U.S. Embassy in Belgrade told Radio Free Europe (RFE) that it is “hard for the United States to understand why justice has not yet been established for the embassy's burning case during the February 2008 riots in Belgrade.

It is important to stress that some individuals have failed to fulfill their legal duties. This applies to Serbian police who withdrew from their positions near the embassy building shortly before the attack. It is also vital to reveal which authorities may have been involved in this illegal act with such tragic consequences”, the US Embassy said in a statement to Radio Free Europe.

The trial against five police leaders, before the Supreme Court in Belgrade, accused of failing to provide security for the US Embassy, was canceled on September 17th due to the provisional judge's official obligations.

The trial will continue on Friday 18 September.

Radio Free Europe has seen the indictment, against five senior police officers.

They are accused of serious action against public security. However, the indictment does not consider the possible political responsibility for the riots that occurred after Kosovo's declaration of independence.

The trial of police officers has been accompanied by several postponements of hearings and changes in the indictment. The trial began after the preparation hearings in June of this year.

“Now that the trial for arson at the US Embassy has been reactivated, after so many years of unintelligible delays, the United States stresses the importance of bringing them to justice, whose actions or inactions, had such terrible consequences, including the tragic death of a Serbian citizen, as well as the major damage the fire caused to our” embassy, the statement said.

The embassy's burning case, along with the still unresolved issue of killing the Bytyqi brothers, American citizens of Albanian origin, is seen as a serious obstacle to the improvement and normalisation of relations between Serbia and the United States.

Agron, Mehmet and Yll Bytyqi, American nationals of origin from Kosovo, were arrested in 1999 in Serbia because of, as Serbian officials have said, illegal border crossing.

They were released from prison after being convicted and then killed. Their troops were found in a mass grave near Petrovo Selos in eastern Serbia in 2001.