Nebojša Pavković ( sr-cyr, Небојша Павковић; born 10 April 1946) is a Serbian retired army general who served as Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Yugoslavia from February 2000 to June 2002. He also served as the Commandeer of Third Army of the Armed Forces of Yugoslavia during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

, from December 1998 to February 2000. In 2009, he was convicted by the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

(ICTY) of committing

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

and war crimes in the Kosovo War.

Education and military career

Pavković was born in the village of Senjski Rudnik ( Despotovac municipality) on 10 April 1946. He finished teacher training college in Aleksinac in 1966, and was conscripted into the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska ar ...

( sh, Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija, JNA) on 20 July 1970. Pavković graduated from the

Military Academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

in 1970, finished junior officers' school in 1982 and senior officers' school in 1988. He served as a battalion commander within the 10th Infantry Brigade and later headed the 16th Proletarian Infantry Regiment. From 1988 to 1989, he was the commander of the 16th Motorized Brigade. Between 1988 and 1993, he held several posts in the Federal Secretariat for National Defence. When the conflict in Kosovo began, Pavković was the commander of the Third Army. He was promoted in rank Major General in 1996, Lieutenant General in 1998, Colonel General in 1999. For success as commander leadership he received numerous medals and awards,

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...

awarded him the Medal of Freedom for commanding the Third Army during

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

's Operation Allied Force. After 5 October 2000, Pavković remained at his position as Chief of the General Staff until 24 June 2002, when he was removed from his position by the President of FR Yugoslavia Vojislav Koštunica.

ICTY trial and sentence

On 25 April 2005, Pavković was surrendered to the

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

(ICTY) in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

where he was charged with committing

and war crimes during the

. On 26 February 2009, the ICTY convicted Pavković of the charges and sentenced him to 22 years in prison. His sentence was upheld in January 2014. He has been serving his sentence in Finland since 2014.

Publications

He published two books, which covered events which led to the Kosovo War and military events during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia on the Kosovo battlefield. The published books are: * ''The smell of gunpowder and death in Kosovo and Metohija in 1998'' ( sr-cyr, Мирис барута и смрти на Косову и Метохији 1998.) (2015) * ''78 days of Third Army in the embrace of Merciful Angel'' ( sr-cyr, Трећа армија 78 дана у загрљају Милосрдног анђела) (2018)

Notes

References

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External links

INTERVJU: General Nebojša Pavković - Nisam izdao Miloševića, pretio je građanski rat! (16.9.2018)
at youtube.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pavkovic, Nebojsa 1946 births Living people People from Despotovac Serbian generals Generals of the Yugoslav People's Army Candidates for President of Serbia People convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Serbian people convicted of crimes against humanity Serbian people convicted of war crimes Serbian people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Finland