A court in Kosovo has convicted three ethnic Serbs on “terrorism” charges over their role in a deadly secession attempt near the country’s northern border in 2023.
The Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Blagoje Spasojevic and Vladimir Tolic to life in prison and Dusan Maksimovic to a 30-year jail term on Friday over the attack in the village of Banjska, which led to a clash with police that left one police officer and three of the gunmen dead.
Judge Ngadhnjim Arrni said, “Through this well‑organised plan, and through the use of violence with heavy weaponry, they attempted to cut the northern part of Kosovo, namely the municipalities inhabited predominantly by Serbs, and to attach this part of the territory to Serbia.”
Friday’s trial was held for just three people who were in custody. Only one of the defendants attended the hearing in person. Dozens of reporters, family members and onlookers packed Pristina’s Basic Court to watch the high-profile verdict. In a lengthy indictment, prosecutors had argued for life sentences for all three men. Prosecutor’s requests to have the others tried in absentia were rejected.
Spasojevic, one of the three defendants, told the court that he was not a “terrorist.” “This (incident) was my biggest mistake in life … but I did not kill anyone,” he said during the trial. Friday’s trial was held for just three people who were in custody.
During closing arguments, defence lawyer Milos Delevic said that the men had faced a “pre-created atmosphere that the accused are already guilty” in “one of the weightiest” trials since Kosovo’s war for independence against Serbia.
International arrest warrants have been issued for the remaining suspects, who are believed to be in Serbia.
Kosovo Serb businessman and politician Milan Radoicic, who lives in Serbia and has ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and President Aleksandar Vucic, publicly admitted that he led and organised the attack after he was identified in drone footage by Kosovo security officials.
He is one of 45 people initially charged in connection with the armed incident, which is the worst since the Balkan country declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
Radoicic, a former Vice-President of the Serb List; Kosovo’s main Serb party, has previously admitted to Belgrade authorities that he led the attack, but it remains unclear if he is under investigation in Serbia. He also faces an outstanding warrant over alleged war crimes during Kosovo’s 1990s conflict.
Kosovo has accused Serbia of being behind the attack. Serbia, which lost control over Kosovo after NATO bombing in 1999 and does not recognise Pristina institutions, has denied the allegations, saying the men acted on their own.
About 50,000 Serbs who live in northern Kosovo also do not recognise Pristina’s institutions and see Belgrade as their capital. They have often clashed with Kosovo police and international peacekeepers. More than 10,000 people were killed during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo that erupted when ethnic Albanian separatists launched a rebellion against Serbia’s rule.
Kosovo’s Acting President Welcomes Sentence
Kosovo’s acting President, Albulena Haxhiu, welcomed the sentence as “proof” that attacks on the “security of the country will not go unpunished,” but said justice had not been fully served until Serbia acted. “It will only be concluded when all those responsible, including the terrorist Milan Radoicic, are brought to justice,” she said in a statement on Facebook.
The Serbian government office for Kosovo labelled the verdict “draconian” and accused the court of being politically pressured by the “anti-Serb regime in Pristina.”
While the Serb List condemned the trial as unfair and said it “further endangers the security and rights of the Serbian people.” It said that it expected the trio’s appeal against the sentence to be decided by judges of Serbian nationality.
