Ex-pilot who downed EU chopper released

[Crvena zvezda]

Ex-pilot who downed EU chopper released10 May 2008 | 18:04 | Source: B92, Tanjug BELGRADE -- Former Yugoslav People's Army, JNA, pilot Emir Šišić was released on parole from the Sremska Mitrovica prison yesterday.

The decision came after a positive opinion sent by Justice Minister Dušan Petrović to the court with jurisdiction in the case.

This overturned a previous decision, which said Šišić's release would violate the conditions under which he was transferred to Serbia.

The ministry of justice in 2006 gave guarantees to Italy that if the former major were to be sent to serve his sentence in Serbia, he would not be subject to early release from prison or reduction of the length of the sentence.

Šišić was imprisoned by an Italian court for shooting down a then European Community, EC, helicopter in 1992, during the war in the former Yugoslavia.

Four Italian and one French diplomats onboard died in the incident.

Šišić, who has served half of his 15-year sentence, said today that he was on duty on the day he shot down the helicopter, and that any of his colleagues would have followed orders and done the same.

"The justice has not been done, nor will it be done," Šišić said, and explained this was "because he was punished for carrying out an order".

The justice ministry Friday stated that, regardless of the guarantees given to Italy, "in this specific case, the court can use valid regulations of local legislation when deciding about the request for an early release".

The decision can now be appealed before the Serbian Supreme Court in Belgrade.

Šišić was arrested in Hungary on May 9, 2001, where he spent a year before he was extradited to Italy.