Serbia Confirms Compensation to Beaten American

The Serbian government confirmed Thursday that it has paid a $900,000 compensation to the family of an American who was badly beaten by a Serb.
    
Government official Slobodan Homen said that the sum was paid to the family of Bryan Steinhauer, who was assaulted by his Serbian classmate Miladin Kovacevic during a barroom brawl in upstate New York last May.
    
Kovacevic, a 22-year-old former basketball player at Binghamton University, jumped bail and fled the U.S. last June with emergency travel documents provided by Serbian diplomats in New York.
    
The compensation to the Steinhauer family will be used for his medical expenses, and in recognition that Serbian government officials helped Kovacevic escape, Homen said.
    
The 22-year-old Steinhauer, of Brooklyn, was in a coma after the near-fatal beating.
    
The deal, made by the Serbian government and U.S. judicial authorities, led to an upstate New York prosecutor saying Wednesday that he will hand over the Kovacevic case to Serbian courts for further proceedings.
    
Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen had previously insisted on Kovacevic's return to the U.S. to stand trial for the assault.
    
Serbian President Boris Tadic said Thursday that the compensation agreement with the U.S. "helps that this case be brought to justice.''
    
The case had strained relations between Serbia and the United States as Belgrade, saying its laws do not allow extradition, refused to hand Kovacevic over for a trial in New York.
    
Homen said that Kovacevic's trial will start in a Belgrade court as soon as the New York prosecutor sends documents on the case to the Serbian judicial authorities. He said this is expected in up to 10 days.
    
Homen also said that the Serbian government on Thursday lifted a "state secret'' ban on information about the Serbian-U.S. negotiations over the compensation deal.
    
The agreement, leaked to a Belgrade newspaper earlier this year, triggered outrage among many Serbs, who said the compensation money should have been paid by the Kovacevic family, and not by Serbian taxpayers.
    
Homen said that the $900,000 was collected by confiscating property belonging to convicted Serbian criminals, and that it did not come from government taxes.