4 found guilty for drowning of 35 Kosovo Roma refugees
The Court of Appeals of Montenegro has found four defendants guilty for a boat accident in 1999 that resulted in the deaths of 35 Roma refugees from Kosovo.
Source: Beta
The Miss Pat, registered to carry six passengers and two crew, had about 70 people on board when it sank near Budva, Montenegro in the summer of 1999.
The boat was en route to Italy, illegally transporting the Roma refugees, who had fled from Kosovo.
The Montenegrin court sentenced Sasa Boreta to eight years, Refik Hodzic, who is at large, to seven, while Ismet Bala and Agim Gashi received six years in prison each.
Two other defendants have been acquitted for lack of evidence.
In the past, the Higher Court in Podgorica on two occasions acquitted all the accused, which was followed by appeals filed by the Montenegrin prosecution.
