With the prospects of bringing Serbian basketball player Miladin Kovacevic to justice in the US looking slimmer and slimmer, Secretary of State Clinton appears to be the force behind a deal where the Serbian government will pay out $900,000 to the family of Bryan Steinhauer, the man Kovacevic is accused of beating within an inch of his life. Serbia is also said to be paying another $100,000 to cover Kovacevic's bail, left over since he fled the US after being charged in the Binghamton brawl that left Steinhauer in a coma last spring. The Post says that Clinton kept the pressure on US ambassador to Serbia, Cameron Munter to hammer out a deal in one of her first acts at her new cabinet post. As New York's Senator, Clinton had previously led efforts to go after Kovacevic. Serbian papers were outraged with news of the payout with one saying, "Kovacevic appears to be more important to Serbia than the country's own impoverished citizens." A spokesman for the US State Department insists that the settlement doesn't the end of the case saying, "Serbian officials have assured us that they will continue to pursue this case vigorously...to return Kovacevic to face justice in New York."
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