BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's war crimes prosecutors have denied a human rights group's claim that the country's new army chief of staff committed war crimes against civilians in Kosovo during the 1998-99 war.
The prosecutors' office said Wednesday an investigation has shown "there is no basis whatsoever to suspect the criminal responsibility" of Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic. They said if there were any doubts about his role during the war, the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia would have investigated him.
Belgrade's Humanitarian Law Center said Tuesday that Dikovic should be replaced because of "grave and massive" crimes in Kosovo where he was a brigade commander. Dikovic was appointed last month.
About 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanians, died in the Kosovo war. Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008.
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