19 ethnic Albanians were tried by the district court of Pec in Kosovo province, Serbia, on charges under Articles 136 and 116 of the Criminal Code, accused of having founded an illegal organization, the Albanian National Front, with the aim of securing the secession of Kosovo province by means of arms. At the trial which began on 28 September and finished on 20 October 1992, many of the defendants withdrew their statements alleging that they had made them under torture. Earlier lawyers had filed complaints that the investigations had been conducted by the police rather than by the judge, and that some defendants had been denied access to their lawyers from their arrest in October 1991 until 19 January. All were found guilty and sentenced to between 1 and 7 years.
