Serbs Begin Trial For Albanian Separatists

Nine former policemen, all ethnic Albanians, went on trial Wednesday on charges they set up their own police force in Serbia’s restive Kosovo province.

The defendants are also charged with “planning to separate Kosovo from Serbia and Yugoslavia.” If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison.

Ethnic tensions are high in Kosovo, Serbia’s southern province, where 90 percent of the 1.9 million people are ethnic Albanian.

In 1989, Serbia abolished Kosovo’s autonomy and introduced direct rule, implemented by a heavy, Serbdominated police presence. Since then, more than 100 ethnic Albanians have died in clashes with police. Hundreds more have been arrested and allegedly tortured.

The nine officers are the first to be tried among 172 ethnic Albanian policemen arrested last year.