As the bus doors opened, each man was swept off his feet and passed to his relatives in the jubilant crowd. Serbia's decision to free those it previously called terrorists is the latest sign that the new leadership is attempting to right some of the wrongs committed under Slobodan Milosevic. Many of the men had been snatched from refugee convoys and hastily tried on terrorism charges related to the 1999 Kosovo Albanian campaign for independence from Yugoslavia's main republic, Serbia. The rebellion ended when NATO launched 78 days of air- strikes against Yugoslavia and pushed Milosevic's forces out of Kosovo. Milosevic was ousted in October, and the courts of the new pro-democracy government ruled Monday that the sentences of the 143 men should be reviewed.
New trials are highly unlikely.
Demands for the release of these prisoners have long been a rallying point for the province's Albanians, who have argued that there will never be peace in Kosovo until all of them are free. Dozens remain in jail. Then he spotted her pigtails wrapped in red ribbons. With a smile he touched her cheeks but she turned and started to cry. All rights reserved.