PRISTINA: Kosovo’s acting prime minister on Wednesday called on the international community not to consider Serbia a normal state until it hands over those responsible for a deadly incursion by heavily armed Serb gunmen in 2023.
Albin Kurti visited the grave of Afrim Bunjaku, a police officer shot dead in the gunfight in Banjska. The attack also left three Serb gunmen dead.
Kosovo has accused Serbia of involvement, a claim that Belgrade has denied.
Kurti said the incursion was an “aggressive and terrorist attack” funded and supported by Belgrade officials and President Aleksandar Vucic.
“We call on the international actors not to consider Serbia a normal state as long as it doesn’t hand over its criminals,” he said.
Prosecutors have charged 45 people, alleging they were trying to break away the Serb-majority municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo and join Serbia proper.
Only three Serb defendants were arrested and were present at the trial that started last year. They pleaded not guilty to charges of violating constitutional and legal order, terror activities, funding terrorism and money laundering.
If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Among those charged in absentia was Milan Radoicic, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and Vucic.
Serbia briefly detained Radoicic, who had fled back there after the shooting. Radoicic denied charges of criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of weapons and explosives and grave acts against public safety, but admitted he was part of the paramilitary group involved in the gunfight. He was released.
Radoicic is under US and British sanctions for his alleged criminal activity. Serbia said that Radoicic and his group acted on their own.
Serbia’s independent media have reported that Radoicic’s men were deployed to intimidate anti-government protesters at almost daily rallies challenging Vucic’s firm rule in the country.
In Belgrade, right-wing supporters displayed nationalist banners and torches at a vigil on Tuesday evening honoring the three Serb paramilitaries who were killed in the clash in Banjska, and calling them “heroes.” Similar vigils were held in other towns.
European Union and US officials have demanded that Serbia bring the perpetrators to justice.
On Wednesday the British and German embassies urged Serbian authorities to act on the matter as soon as possible.
Relations between Serbia and its former breakaway province remain tense. Talks facilitated by Brussels seem to have stalled while Belgrade is confronted with continuous anti-government protests. In Kosovo, the Parliament’s political deadlock has hampered the creation of a new Cabinet.
Kosovo was a Serbian province until NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left about 13,000 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out. Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008. It is recognized by most countries but not by Serbia and its close allies, Russia and China.