(8 Aug 2000) Natural Sound
XFA
The trial of three Serbs accused of killing an ethnic Albanian ended in acquittal on Tuesday after a U-S soldier testified that he had shot at an ethnic Albanian during a gun battle at the same time.

The five-member panel ruled Tuesday that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict the three members of the Serb Momcilovic family with the slaying of Afrim Gagica in July 1999.

The decision came one day after a U-S soldier testified about American involvement in the shootout in the eastern town of Gnjilane, part of the American sector of Kosovo.

At the request of French judge Patrice de Charette, the court travelled to the southeastern town to show where the American snipers involved in the shootout were deployed.

Reporters were not allowed inside the heavily guarded building, but several people who were present said Sergeant Robert Black repeated statements he gave Army investigators detailing how he fired at an ethnic Albanian who had been shooting at U-S troops.

United Nations officials say the dead man, Gagica was in a shed when he was killed.

Black is not expected to face charges since the rules of engagement at the time allowed peacekeepers to fire in self defence.

The case against Mirolub “Mirko” Momcilovic, 60, and his sons Jugoslav, 32, and Boban, 25, dragged on for more than a year, and it is considered a test of the effectiveness of Kosovo’s embryonic, internationally monitored justice system.

International officials close to the case said it would be difficult for ethnic Albanian judges to arrive at an impartial verdict because they would then have to return to their own communities where anti-Serb sentiments are strong.

The Albanian prosecutor, Sabit Maliqi, dragged out the case, requesting that the court hear as many as possible of the 37 testimonies from U-S soldiers involved in gun battles that day.

The request to hear more testimonies on Monday was rejected.

In his closing remarks, Maliqi claimed the distance from Black’s position in the building was too far away from where Gagica allegedly was killed.

Defence lawyer Zivojin Jaknovic said in his closing statement that the testimonies given by 37 U-S soldiers – consisting mostly of written statements included in a 130-page U-S Army report – all confirmed that Gagica was shot by a U-S military sniper.

Prosecutors have 15 days to appeal the decision, and the men remain at a U-S Army detention facility at Camp Bondsteel to await any further court action.

The men were convicted of illegal firearms possession, but were sentenced to time served.

SOUNDBITE : (English)
“Did you engage the car?
Answer ‘yes’. Describe the car. Answer ‘the car was green.’
Question, ‘where was it located this car?’
Answer, ‘on the street on the opposite’.”
SUPER CAPTION: Patrice De Charette, International Judge

SOUNDBITE: (English)
“Did you fire explosive rounds 40 mm?
Answer ‘yes’
Did the people inside the shed fire?
Answer ‘yes’. Did you see other people wounded?
Answer ‘no’.
Did you maintain your written statement?
Answer ‘yes’.
SUPER CAPTION: Patrice De Charette, International Judge

SOUNDBITE: (English)
“The court decides that Mirolub “Mirko” Momcilovic, Jugoslav Momcilovic and Boban Momcilovic are immediately released”
SUPER CAPTION: Patrice De Charette, International judge

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