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Sweden charges Serb with war crimes

A 34-year-old Serbian man has been charged by Swedish prosecutors with war crimes which took place during the Kosovo conflict in 1999.

Milic Martinovic has been charged with murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, robbery and arson in the western village of Cuska in Kosovo.

The prosecution has alleged that he was part of a special police unit of Serbs who marched into the village on the 14th of May 1999, armed and uniformed. They went on to separate the male villagers from other civilians and murdered 41 of them. The victims were all ethnic Albanians.

Two survivors of the massacre will be coming forward to give evidence in Matinovic’s trial.

If found guilty of these crimes, Martinovic could be imprisoned for life in Sweden, a maximum sentence of 25 years, and then extradited to Serbia.

District prosecutor Lars Hedvall has said that he is “convinced that he (Martinovic) will be convicted in this case.”

The trial starts on the 12th of September.

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