A Belgian court has upheld the convictions of the killers of Kosovo activist Enver Hadri, sentencing two defendants, Veselin Vukotić and Andrija Drašković, to life in prison once again.

This decision follows nearly three weeks of court hearings, triggered by appeals from two of the previously sentenced three defendants.

In 2016, the court found Božidar Spašić, a former Serbian secret service member, along with Vukotić and Drašković, guilty in absentia for Hadri’s murder, handing down life sentences.

Among the three originally convicted, only Vukotić and Drašković chose to challenge the court’s judgment.

The appeal proceedings were conducted without the presence of Vukotić and Drašković.

Kosovo activist Enver Hadri was fatally shot in Brussels on February 25, 1990, while waiting at a red light.

The 2016 ruling determined that Hadri’s assassination was orchestrated by the Yugoslav secret service, with criminal elements carrying out the act with logistical backing from Belgrade.

The appeal hearings commenced on January 9.

During the trial, several witnesses testified, including members of the Kosovo diaspora and international experts who provided context on the geopolitical climate and the functioning of secret services in the 1990s.

On January 28, the jury reaffirmed the convictions, and the next day, Vukotić and Drašković were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Srđan Cvijić, the author of an upcoming book addressing murders by the Yugoslav State Security Service in Brussels, noted that the renewed guilty verdict for Drašković and Vukotić aligns with the expectations of those following the 2016 trial.

“This decision finally brings closure to the political murder that took place exactly 35 years ago. Alongside the assassination of Croatian émigré Stjepan Đureković in Munich in 1983 (for which Zdravko Mustač and Josip Perković were given lengthy prison terms), Hadri’s case stands out as one of the few documented instances where the UDBA’s role in eliminating political adversaries abroad has been substantiated in court,” Cvijić relayed in a statement to Radio Free Europe (RFE).

Cvijić went on to explain that, apart from Hadri, six additional members of the Yugoslav political emigration were murdered in Brussels from 1975 to 1990—comprising one Albanian and five Serbs.

“While those cases remain unresolved, there is a prevailing suspicion that the Yugoslav State Security was involved in all these assassinations,” he added.

For years, Srđan Cvijić has been examining political killings in the Belgian capital. He elaborated that Belgium establishes an ad hoc tribunal, known as the Jury Court, for serious offenses such as murder, comprising three professional judges and 12 jurors randomly selected from the public.

In both the 2016 case and the current proceedings, it was this court that tried the murderers of Enver Hadri, according to Cvijić.

Teuta Hadri, daughter of the slain activist, remarked that the findings reaffirmed the links between the Serbian and Yugoslav secret services and the criminal networks operating in Belgrade at that time.

“The individuals who orchestrated my father’s assassination were held accountable based on the evidence from their country,” Teuta Hadri stated to reporters.

She views the Belgian court’s verdict as a triumph not only for her family but also for all activists advocating for human rights in Kosovo during that era.

The trial pertaining to Enver Hadri marks the first judicial proceeding within the European Union for the murder of members from the Kosovo diaspora motivated by their political activities throughout the 90s.

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