The Appellant Court overthrow the suspended sentence for four men convicted for setting ablaze the US embassy in Belgrade in 2008, during a mass protest against Kosovo’s declaration of independence, the independent investigative network Insajder reported.

Insider quoted the Court’s website as saying the ruling was based on the absence of evidence. At the same time, the court confirmed the previous acquittal of other three men suspected of setting the building ablaze.

Insajder said that while the perpetrators were cleared of charges, a decade after the incident in which a young Serb died inside the burning embassy, no one was held responsible for organising the rampage and for failing to prevent it.

On February 21, 2008, the protest against Kosovo’s independence turned violent, and a group of hooligans attacked a few embassies in Belgrade. In an organised manner, the group rocked the US embassy with stones, torches and other objects causing the building to catch fire. Later they stoned the German embassy as well.

During the riot, 78 demonstrators and 52 policemen were injured.

In November 2017, the Higher Court convicted the three men to six months and one to five months of the suspended sentence, and the presiding judge said they were punished for “public-order crime,” while the other three were released.

During the trial it was established that the group was outside the embassy, throwing stones at the building while being aware of the danger to the people and property, but were not guilty of the death inside the embassy.

The latest exonerating ruling said there was a lack of evidence and that throwing the stones could not set the embassy ablaze.” The torches were not mentioned.

The responsibility of the five police officers said not to have reacted appropriately, during the riot has not been established yet, and the indictment is in work for months, after the first charges against them were brought nine years after the event.

The incident has strained the US – Serbia relations, and following the 2017 verdict, Washington demanded responsibility for those who ordered and organised the riot, not only the perpetrators.

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