Subject: HLC-Albin Kurti senteced to 15 years in prison
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Status:
HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE
Albin Kurti senteced to 15 years in prison
14 March 2000
Kosovo Albanian student leader Albin Kurti was yesterday sentenced to 15
years in prison by the District Court in Nis, which has assumed the
jurisdiction of the Pristina District Court. Judge Sladjana Petrovic
found Kurti guilty of endangering the territorial integrity of FR
Yugoslavia, for which he received 13 years, and of seditious conspiracy
in conjunction with terrorism, for which he was given an additional four
yearsÆ imprisonment. The court pronounced a cumulative sentence of 15
years and ordered Kurti remanded in custody until it became final.
KurtiÆs court-appointed defense counsel, Branislav Ciric, announced an
appeal.
Because of lack of evidence, the deputy district prosecutor yesterday
amended the indictment, withdrawing the count of seditious conspiracy
and terrorism during a state of war and instead charging Kurti with
endangering the territorial integrity of the country. Since there was
no evidence presentation at the trial, neither the court nor the public
know what evidence, if any, the prosecutor had against the defendant.
Albin Kurti stated before the sentencing that he did not recognize the
court, the prosecutor or his defense counsel.
