Serbia today freed 143 ethnic Albanians jailed for terrorism during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo in a move welcomed by human rights activists and Western officials.
Three buses carrying the released prisoners, arrested by Serb forces almost two years ago during NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, crossed into UN-governed Kosovo shortly after 2 p.m. (12.00 Irish time).
They were later taken to their homes in the western Kosovo town of Djakovica.
"We're very happy," said 28-year-old Mr Fatos Deva. "We were treated well; we were not harassed or beaten but the conditions in the prison are very bad; the hygiene and food are terrible."
The release will be seen as a further sign that Yugoslavia's new authorities are distancing themselves from the country's turbulent past under Mr Slobodan Milosevic, ousted as Yugoslav leader in an uprising last October.
Western governments and human rights groups had called on Belgrade to release the prisoners, condemning their convictions last year as groundless.
"This is a very important step taken by them," said Mr Hans Haekkerup, who heads the UN administration in Kosovo, a Yugoslav province with a majority ethnic Albanian population.