UN judiciary lays first charges over riots in March
Deutsche Presse-Agentur - September 29, 2004

Pristina - The United Nations judiciary in Kosovo Wednesday charged a group of ethnic Albanians with killing a Serb and severely beating his ageing mother during an outbreak of violence in March.

"It is one of the first serious cases dealing with the March rampage. There will be furher indictments," Director of Kosovo's justice system Thomas Monaghan told a press conference.

Monaghan said that three Albanians were charged with the murder of Slobodan Peric, and another three with the brutal assault on his 77- year-old mother, who died in hospital two months later.

The U.N.-led Kosovo judiciary is investigating some 260 cases of various crimes committed during the two-day Albanian rampage against Serbs and their property in March, which resulted in 20 deaths.

However, the U.N. mission in Kosovo so far failed to charge anyone with the crimes committed during the riots, which eventually led to the Serbian boycott of October's general elections in the province.

In addition, police charged another group of ethnic Albanians for running "one of the biggest drug smuggling rings" in Kosovo, with an estimated 100 kilos of heroin smuggled to western Europe. dpa ra bg sc

September 29, 2004, Wednesday; 15:33:43 Central European Time
SECTION: Politics

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