Watch CBS News

Serb Basketball Player Starts Serving Sentence

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) -- A former Serb college basketball player has started serving his two-year prison term after being sentenced for beating an American student into a coma, the case that had strained U.S.-Serbia relations.

A court in the northern town of Sombor said Friday that Miladin Kovacevic  arrived at a nearby prison on Thursday.

He was sentenced by a Belgrade court in November for severely beating fellow Binghamton University student Bryan Steinhauer of Brooklyn in May 2008 during a barroom brawl.

Kovacevic then jumped bail in the U.S. and fled to Serbia, which refused to extradite him, angering Washington.

Serbian authorities granted the 23-year-old a delay in starting to serve his sentence to take university exams.

(Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.