Kosovo's then-Minister of Local Governance, Ivan Teodosijevic, made the statement at a protest rally on the 20th anniversary of the 1999 bombardment in March, the Pristina court said in a press release.

He was convicted over a speech that claimed the NATO strikes were launched due to the "so-called humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo" -- an apparent downplay of the abuses unfolding on the ground as Serb forces cracked down on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Identifying Teodosijevic through his initials I.T., the court said in a statement that by abusing his authority as a minister "he had deliberately incited and spread public hatred, disunity and impatience between ... ethnic groups living in Kosovo".

Teodosijevic, one of two Serb ministers in the former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj's administration, has the right to appeal.

He was dismissed a month after the rally for similar comments written on Facebook.

Serbs make up around 120,000 of Kosovo's roughly 1.8 million population, which is overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian.

While the minority largely rejects the independence that Kosovo declared in 2008, they are guaranteed representation in government.

Belgrade also denies its former territory's sovereignty, a dispute that regularly fans tension in the region.

The 1998-99 war claimed more than 13,000 lives, mostly ethnic Albanians.

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