Dr. Flora Brovina, an ethnic Albanian, was convicted of terrorism by a court in Nis on December 9 and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for alleged links to the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.

Her lawyer, Rajko Danilovic, said he was officially informed today that the high court had referred the case back to the Nis tribunal. Under Serbian law, the lower court could either throw out the case entirely or order a new trial, according to Natasa Kandic, head of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade.

It was unclear when the Nis court would make a decision, and there was no indication that Brovina's release was imminent. The Supreme Court, however, suggested that she be granted bail.

The 50-year-old activist was arrested in Kosovo by Serbian police during the 1999 NATO air bombardment of Yugoslavia. After Serb troops evacuated the province under terms of a peace agreement, Brovina and hundreds of other Kosovo Albanians were transferred to prisons in central and northern Serbia.

Many of them have been tried and sentenced for links to the KLA.

Brovina's case, however, drew international attention because of her work with multinational humanitarian and human rights organizations. Several Western governments condemned her sentence.

Brovina had founded a women's rights organization in Kosovo and provided health care to women and children in the province during the Kosovo war. She denied she had aided the now officially disbanded KLA rebels.