BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's defense minister says a former general convicted for war crimes and other Serb commanders who took part in a bloody crackdown against Kosovo's Albanians in the 1990s will be invited to teach at the Balkan country's military academy.

Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin has praised former Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a U.N. war crimes tribunal for atrocities committed by Serb troops in Kosovo during the 1998-99 violence that left over 10,000 people killed.

The bloodshed stopped only after a 78-day NATO bombardment.

Vulin told Serbia's state TV on Thursday that Lazarevic and the other officers are "exceptional people" who would be sought by "any military academy in the world."

Lazarevic was released from prison in 2015 after serving two-thirds of his sentence.