ETHNIC ALBANIANS STAND IN THE COURT IN THE TOWN OF NIS, 2000-05-24 (photo)

Ethnic Albanians stand in the court just before the start of a trial in the town of Nis, some 220kms south of Belgrade, May 22. A Serb court on Monday sentenced 143 ethnic Albanians to jail terms ranging from seven to 13 years for terrorism. Following the largest Yugoslav mass trial ever held in Yugoslavia, Judge Goran Petronijevic said the accused had been sentenced because they committed criminal acts of terrorism during last year's NATO air war. He said 49 of them were jailed for 13 years each, 51 to 12 years, 20 to 10 years each, and 11 to nine years and 10 of them to seven years each. Two juveniles were sentenced to seven years each in juvenile detention. GT/