Serbian military promotes war criminal's book

BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbia's defense ministry has promoted a book by a former army chief of staff who is in jail for war crimes committed by Belgrade's troops in Kosovo in the late 1990s.

The book was written by former Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence after his 2009 conviction by a U.N. war crimes tribunal.

During a ceremony on Wednesday, Pavkovic addressed the participants via a video link from his prison cell in Finland, saying the book represents "a heroic testimony" of the defense of Serbia from "NATO aggression."

The 78-day NATO air war in 1999 stopped a bloody Serb crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists and civilians that led to more than 10,000 dead and nearly a million expelled from their homes.