Serbian authorities sharply criticised a Kosovo court’s decision to sentence a Serb man to 13 years in prison on war crimes charges, calling the ruling politically motivated and unjust, according to a statement from Belgrade Monday.
Duško Arsić, from the village of Matičane near Priština, was sentenced in a repeated trial by the Basic Court in Priština after an appeals court ordered a retrial. He had previously been convicted in 2024 of alleged abuses and killings of civilians in the village of Butovac during the 1999 Kosovo conflict.
The Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija said in a statement that the verdict confirmed what it described as the political “instrumentalisation” of Kosovo’s judiciary and a system that it claimed was being used to intimidate and marginalise Kosovo Serbs. It said there was no proof Arsić committed any crime and alleged the charges followed his filing of a property restitution lawsuit.
“Montaged trials against people of Serbian nationality are not just blatant violations of individual human rights,” the office said, adding that they were part of an “organised campaign of intimidation” against the Serbian community.
Kosovo’s judiciary said the sentence was based on witness testimony confirming Arsić’s involvement with Serbian police and military units implicated in abuse and killings in Butovac. The ruling can still be appealed to a higher court.
Arsić was detained in December 2021 at the Jarinje border crossing after attempting to resolve a dispute over property he said had been illegally seized from him.
The case is likely to add tension to longstanding disputes between Belgrade and Priština over justice, sovereignty and the treatment of ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.