Belgrade frees two Serbs charged with killing Albanians

The Supreme Court in Belgrade acquitted Jugoslav Petrushici and Radeta Petrovic of charges of killing two Albanians, Hamdi Neziri and Bemer Idrizi, during the Kosovo war in 1999.

The news was confirmed for the Balkan Radio Service Free Europe by the tribunal's spokeswoman, Tatjana Tespic.

Petrushiq and Petrovic are known for the public as part of the “Spider group”.

The anti-group procedure was launched in 1999.

With Friday's ruling, even charges of extortion against Petrusic and Petrovic were rejected, as well as against Branko Vlasic, who was charged only with this crime.

Indictee Milorad Pellemish is dead and the court is awaiting death certificate to officially suspend the proceedings against him.

This is a first-degree decision against which the prosecution has the right to complain.

These four, as well as Slobodan Orahhan, in 2018, have also been acquitted of spying charges in favor of French intelligence service during 1999.

At the time of this group's arrest in 1999, then Secretary of Information in Serbia Goran Matic has said that “members of the then-Yugoslav spy-terrorist group ♫”, who, following a series of crimes, “also planned the” assassination of then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Matic has repeated these claims even in court, but they have never been charged with them, while the case, over the years, has gone through various institutions of courts and prosecutors. / REL/