A Serbian court said Tuesday a man who pleaded guilty to espionage has been sentenced to three years in prison, with Croatia denying local media reports that he was working for Zagreb.
A Belgrade higher court judge accepted a deal on a guilty plea concluded between the prosecutors and the accused Cedo Colovic, a court statement said.
"The accused was found guilty of ... espionage and sentenced to three years in jail," it added.
Colovic, holding both Croatian and Serbian passports, had been arrested last week after a joint operation by Serbian prosecutors and the country's Security Information Agency (BIA).
However, prosecutors did not discuss who he is accused of spying for. They just said he lived in Croatia until 1990 when he resided in Serbia.
Meanwhile, Serbian media reported that Colovic was believed to have been an officer in rebel Serb forces during Croatia's 1990s independence war who fled to Serbia once the conflict ended.
According to media reports. the 57-year-old allegedly provided Croatia with military intelligence information which was used to raise war crimes charges against Serb officers.
But Croatian officials denied he was working for them. President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said at the weekend that her country had "no knowledge that the arrested person was linked to any Croatian (intelligence) services."
Colovic's arrest came amid rather frosty ties between the two former foes.
More than two decades after Croatia's 1991-1995 war, in which Serbia backed rebels from the Serb minority, relations between the Balkan neighbours remain strained.
