On 14 September 2016, the Panel of the Court of Appeals composed of two EULEX Judges and one Kosovo Court of Appeals Judge, decided upon the appeals of the defence counsel and appeal of Special Prosecutor filed against the Judgement rendered by the Basic Court of Mitrovica in so called ‘Drenica 2’ case.
The Appellate Panel by unanimous votes decided to modify Judgment of the Basic Court of Mitrovica by changing the sentence for the criminal offence in continuation committed in co-perpetration for the defendants J. D. to 6 (six) years of imprisonment, S. S. to 7 (seven) years of imprisonment, I. Th. to 6 (six) years and 6 (six) months of imprisonment and Z.D. to 6 (six) years of imprisonment, while, the sentence of 3 (three) years of imprisonment for the defendants A.D., F.D., N. D., S. D., D. D., B. D., is confirmed.
The Judgment of the Basic Court of Mitrovica dated 27 May 2015 found all of ten defendants guilty for war crimes against the civilian population and sentenced them with imprisonment from 3 to 8 years of imprisonment. Against the Judgment of the Basic Court, all of the defence counsel of the defendants filed appeals on the sentencing part of the Judgment while the Special Prosecutor filed an appeal claiming more severe sentence for all the defendants. The Appellate panel, however, unanimously rejected the appeals filed by all defence counsel and the SPRK Prosecutor as unfounded and acted ex officio by modifying some parts of the impugned Judgment concerning the legal qualification namely applied the provision of the criminal offence committed in continuation instead of two separate criminal offences of war crimes. The Appellate Panel consequently modified the imposed sentence, the calculation of the period spent in detention on remand and costs of the criminal proceedings.