Senior Kosovo officials on September 24 honored an ethnic Albanian policeman killed by a commando-style group of armed Serbs last year in northern Kosovo, while the country's interior minister said on the eve of a trial for suspects in the attack that the indictments were "incomplete" because they ignored official Serbian involvement.
Prime Minister Albin Kurti said during a visit to the slain police sergeant's hometown that Serbia "is responsible and must be held accountable" for what he and other officials have described as a "terrorist" attack.
Belgrade has denied involvement in the ambush by dozens of heavily armed paramilitary gunmen near the Serbian Orthodox Banjska Monastery complex in September 2023 that killed the policeman and injured another. Three gunmen were killed before the group escaped into rugged terrain near the Kosovo-Serbia border.
The incident alarmed observers already concerned about stalled normalization efforts and escalating tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs are in the majority in four northern regions along the mutual border.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
A Year After Brazen Attack In Kosovo, Questions Remain
A trial is scheduled to begin in Kosovo on September 25 of the group's alleged ringleader, fugitive former Kosovar Serb politician Milan Radoicic, and 44 unnamed subjects of indictments announced earlier this month.
Serbian officials have said Radoicic confessed his involvement last October and is complying with court reporting requirements, but they are continuing their own investigation. They say any legal process will take place "before domestic courts" and categorically reject extradition.
Kosovar Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla told RFE/RL in an extensive interview that the Banjska indictments were "late but also incomplete, since we know that there were somewhere around 100 terrorists directly involved in this attack…[and] organization and support from the institutions of Serbia has been evident."
Svecla insisted there is "indisputable evidence" that the Banjska attackers trained at an official Serbian Army barracks in Pasulanske Livade, about 100 kilometers from the Kosovar border.
Kurti has led a sweeping crackdown on the unofficial ties that have kept tens of thousands of Serbs in northern Kosovo heavily dependent on Belgrade, including use of the Serbian dinar, banks, and post offices.
The United States and European Union have repeatedly criticized Kosovar government actions over the past 18 months as "uncoordinated," "unilateral," and a potential obstacle to progress on decade-long talks to normalize the Balkan countries' relations.
Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti attends a dedication ceremony in northern Kosovo on September 24 for a road named after slain police Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku.
In remarks as he dedicated a local road to the late policeman, Kurti accused Western officials of "appeasement" toward Belgrade out of "caution or fear" of actions by Russia with which Belgrade has maintained trade and diplomatic relations despite unprecedented U.S. and EU sanctions since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Kurti added that "there are no more internal sources of insecurity or instability that we can't control or manage."
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said the Banjska incident was "not terrorism at all."
Former Serbian List Vice President and accused attack ringleader Milan Radoicic (center) attends a session of parliament in Belgrade in February 2023.
Serbia's Higher Public Prosecutor's Office told RFE/RL that its investigation into the Banjska events was not complete, but it is treating Radoicic as a suspect in three crimes, including endangering security and weapons charges.
Pristina says Belgrade has ignored its request for Radoicic's handover despite an Interpol warrant issued at its request in December.
Radoicic is a former vice president of the Serbian List party that dominates political life and many parallel institutions for ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo. He resigned from that post and relinquished control of a Serbian business around the time he was said in October to have acknowledged responsibility for the Banjska incident under questioning by Serbian authorities.
The United States imposed sanctions on Radoicic and several associates in 2021 for alleged corruption and their suspected involvement in the 2018 murder of Kosovar Serb businessman and Serbian List critic Oliver Ivanovic.
Kurti has alleged that Radoicic has held multiple meetings with Serbia's Security and Information Agency (BIA) in the past year.
The U.S. State Department has urged Serbia to hold all participants in the deadly attack accountable.