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Goran Stanisic (centre) in court on Tuesday. Photo: BIRN.
Pristina Basic Court found Goran Stanisic guilty on Tuesday of war crimes against ethnic Albanian civilians in the town of Lipjan/Lipljan during the Kosovo war in 1999 and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
“The accused Goran Stanisic … is guilty because during the war in Kosovo on April 15-16, 1999, during a large-scale attack by Serbian military, paramilitary, and reserve police forces against the Albanian civilian population in the village of Sllovi and Terboc in the municipality of Lipjan, the accused… participated in deportations, murder and violence against the Albanian civilian population,” said presiding judge Valon Kurtaj.
Stanisic, who was a reservist policeman with the Serbian Interior Ministry, was found guilty of participating in the murders of 13 civilians.
On April 15, 1999, he was among a group of uniformed men who killed five members of the Gashi family in the village of Sllovi/Slovinje.
Later that day, Stanisic was involved in another murder in the village, and was one of several men who took another six ethnic Albanians from a column of people who were leaving the village because of the attack by Serbian forces and killed them.
On April 16, 1999, Stanisic was involved in wounding one more civilian and murdering another.
The judge said that Stanisic is obliged to pay 300 euros in court costs and 50 euros to a victims’ compensation fund, all within 15 days of the final judgment.
The verdict was a first-instance ruling and can be appealed.
