A Belgrade appeals court published a decision on Tuesday in which it annulled Mirjana Markovic’s one-year prison sentence and sent the case back for retrial.

Mirjana Markovic is a former leader of the Yugoslav left party and widow of former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic. In 2000 Markovic was accused of abuse against official duty, as she allegedly influenced a state institution to allocate an apartment to her grandson’s nanny at the time.

In 2005 an international warrant was issued against Markovic, as she fled the country while Milosevic was still on trial before the Hague Tribunal for genocide and war crimes from the 1990s. She was tried in absentia.

In 2018 the Higher Court of Belgrade convicted Markovic and sentenced her to one-year imprisonment.

The appeals court in Belgrade overturned the decision on the basis of substantial violation of the criminal code provisions, as the sentence was incomprehensible and inconsistent with the reasoning. In addition, the appeals court stated that the Higher court of Belgrade incorrectly applied the rule of lenity.

As Markovic is still out of the country, the ordered retrial will likely be held again in her absence.