Trial starts against Albanian charged with murder of 12 Serbs in 2001
A trial against a Kosovo Albanian charged with the murder of 12 Serbs by planting a bomb under an intercity bus in the Podujevo municipality in 2001, started on Thursday before UNMIK's District Court in Kosovska Mitrovica.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, October 19, 2007
The indictment against Florim Ejupi was changed at the hearing in his trial because the international prosecutor, Gianfranco Gallo, changed a part of the indictment against Ejupi and, in addition to murder, charged him with the attempted murder of the others wounded in the attack, rather than the inflicting of serious and minor injuries.
Ejupi pleaded not guilty.
In the explosion of the "Nis Ekspres" bus, ten Serbs were killed and several were seriously and lightly wounded. Soon after the attack, two more persons died in hospital. The passengers on the bus - mostly internally-displaced Serbs -- were all going from central Serbia to Gracanica to attend a religious service.
After his initial arrest, the accused Florim Ejupi managed to escape from the military prison in the U.S. Camp Bondsteel near Urosevac. He was arrested again in Tirana in June 2004, and was later handed over to the police in Kosovo.
Besides Ejupi, Celi Gashi, Avdij Behluli and Jusuf Veliu were arrested at the same time, under suspicion of having participated in the attack. However, it is not known at present whether they would be tried as possible co-perpetrators, because they were released in December that year because of a lack of evidence.
