03. 08. 2012

Former RTS director to be released in September

Belgrade, August 3, 2012 (B92, Tanjug) - Former Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) Director Dragoljub Milanović will be released from prison on September 1, B92 has learnt.

Milanović will be released after serving ten years for the death of 16 RTS workers during the NATO bombing in 1999. His sentence will expire on August 31.

However, it is uncertain whether Milanović will be immediately released since he is being tried in another case.

He is standing trial for abuse of office during allocation of apartments to RTS workers. The trial before the Higher Court in Belgrade is in its final stages and a verdict is expected soon.

Milanović was sentenced to ten years in jail because he had known that the RTS headquarters would be bombed but failed to protect and evacuate the employees.

Nobody else was held responsible for the tragedy. The prosecution is, however, still investigating the case.

Republic Public Prosecution Spokesman Tomo Zorić told Tanjug recently that the prosecution had taken the necessary actions and that there was no reason to fear that the case would exceed the statute of limitations.

Mother of one of the killed workers Žanka Stojanović requested from the prosecution to put on trial everybody who was responsible, including members of the former Supreme Defense Council.

According to Zorić, the Defense Ministry has submitted all the required documents relevant to the case and the prosecution is still working on it.

The next hearing in the abuse of office case against Milanović will be held on September 17. Judge Vera Vukotić has announced that a court expert and two witnesses will testify, that presentation of closing arguments will be scheduled and that the delivery of the verdict would follow soon.

Milanović is one of the rare convicts who served a full sentence. He had privileges at one point, including an open prison, but they were revoked after reactions of the victims' families.

At the beginning of the trial for abuse of office, the former RTS director denied that he illegally gave apartments to the employees, stressing that the trial was politically motivated and that he did not feel like a convict but like "a prisoner of war of NATO and their associates in Serbia".