A Serbian court has fined a leading rights activist for linking the country's army chief to war crimes, her organisation said Tuesday -- even though the allegations against him are still being probed.
Natasa Kandic, a veteran rights campaigner, was told to pay 550,000 dinars (4,500 euros, $5,000) to General Ljubisa Dikovic in compensation for violating his honour and reputation, the Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) said.
The court found Kandic guilty of "falsely alleging" that during Serbia's 1998-1999 conflict with Kosovo, when Dikovic served as a brigade commander, he had failed to prevent the execution, beating and rape of civilians.
Serbia's office for war crimes prosecution is still probing Dikovic's role in the war after the HLC and Kandic filed a complaint, which led the army chief in turn to file the libel suit.
A Belgrade court fined the activist although it "refused to hear the witnesses proposed" by the defendant, the HLC said.
After Dikovic was appointed army chief in 2011, the HLC issued their complaint claiming he had "failed in his obligation" to prevent Serb forces from committing atrocities against ethnic Albanian civilians in the western Kosovo region of Drenica.
Serbia's defence minister at the time described the allegations as "inappropriate" and "completely false".
When she was accused of libel, Kandic described the move as "politically motivated".
She and the HLC have investigated numerous war crimes committed during the 1990s Balkan wars, which together left about 130,000 people dead.
The conflict in Kosovo claimed around 13,000 victims, most of whom were ethnic Albanians.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognised by more than 100 nations but not by Belgrade.