A former Serb basketball player was sentenced to 27 months in prison for savagely beating an American student in New York under a plea bargain deal with prosecutors, Beta news agency said Monday.
Miladin Kovacevic, 24, pleaded guilty in September to the 2008 attack on Brian Steinhauer, who spent three months in a coma and suffered severe brain damage but has made a remarkable recovery.
After the attack Kovacevic was detained in the United States and then released on bail, but he fled to his homeland using a backup passport provided by Serbian consular officials in New York.
The Serb former consul and vice consul in New York are also on trial for alleged abuse of their position related to the issue of the passport.
The dispute damaged relations between the two countries, as Serbia said it could not extradite a citizen to any other country under its current laws.
The case was finally tried in Belgrade after U.S. justice officials formally handed it over to Serbian authorities.
The Serb government paid $900,000 to Steinhauer as compensation for medical treatment.