A Serbian court has sentenced a Croatian man who pleaded guilty to espionage to three years in prison, but Croatia denied he was working for Zagreb.
A Belgrade higher court judge accepted a plea bargain between prosecutors and the accused man, Cedo Colovic, on September 6.
Colovic, 57, who holds both Croatian and Serbian passports, was arrested last week. Prosecutors did not say who he is accused of spying for. They just said he lived in Croatia until 1990, when he moved to Serbia.
Meanwhile, Serbian media reported that Colovic was an officer in rebel Serb forces during Croatia's 1990s independence war who fled to Serbia once the conflict ended.
Media reports say Colovic provided Croatia with military intelligence that was used to levy war crimes charges against Serb officers.
But Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic this weekend strongly denied he was working for Croatia.
Colovic's arrest came amid strained relations between the two former foes in Croatia's 1991-95 war, in which Serbia backed rebels from the Serb minority.
