The Supreme Court of Kosovo has acquitted the Serb List official Ivan Todosijevi\u0107 of all charges of hate speech in his statement denying the massacre of Racak.<\/p>\n
The decision means that the previous conviction, where he was sentenced to one year in prison, is also annulled.<\/p>\n
His lawyer Neboj\u0161a Vlaji\u0107 confirmed the news of his release from all charges to Radio Free Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision of the Supreme Court is final, there are no more appeals or procedures, Mr. Todosijevi\u0107 is a free man,\u201d Vlaji\u0107 said.<\/p>\n
Ivan Todosijevi\u0107 was tried twice for \u201cincitement to hatred and intolerance\u201d. The first time he was sentenced to two years in prison, but the Supreme Court of Kosovo decided at the end of 2021 to return the case to the beginning.<\/p>\n
In a retrial at the Basic Court in Pristina, he was sentenced to one year in prison.<\/p>\n
The trial against him was conducted due to hate speech. Todosijevi\u0107 stated in March 2019 that the reason for the \u201cNATO aggression\u201d against the Yugoslav army\u2019s barracks in 1999 was the \u201cso-called humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo and the fabricated massacre of Racak\u201d.<\/p>\n
Todosijevi\u0107 is a member of the leadership of the Serb List, the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo, which is supported by Belgrade. He is also the mayor of the parallel Serbian municipality of Zvecan.<\/p>\n
At the time when Todosijevi\u0107 made the statements about the Racak massacre, he held the position of Minister of Local Self-Government Administration in the Government of Kosovo. He was later dismissed by then Prime Minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj.<\/p>\n
In addition to calling the events in Racak a \u201cfabrication\u201d, in his statements on the 20th<\/sup> anniversary of NATO bombings against former Yugoslavia, Todosijevi\u0107 also said that \u201cAlbanian terrorists, who invented everything, committed the greatest crimes in Kosovo and Metohija, for which no one has been imprisoned and held accountable to this day\u201d.<\/p>\n NATO launched attacks on the Serbian barracks to prevent violence perpetrated by Serbian military, police, and paramilitary forces against Albanians in Kosovo. This incident was preceded by the killing of 45 Albanians in the village of Racak in Shtime.<\/p>\n Serbia\u2019s President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 publicly defended Todosijevi\u0107, stating that he believes \u201cRacak is a fabrication\u201d and that Serbs in Kosovo do not have freedom of speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Supreme Court of Kosovo has acquitted the Serb List official Ivan Todosijevi\u0107 of all charges of hate speech in his statement denying the massacre of Racak. The decision means that the previous conviction, where he was sentenced to one year in prison, is also annulled. His lawyer Neboj\u0161a Vlaji\u0107 confirmed the news of his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":57183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[163],"tags":[3168,1098,243,151,3354,3355,2268,3353,3356,787],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n