For Kosovo, the former Serbian politician, Millan Radoicic, remains the core of security problems. For more than a year, his name has been called "criminal", "terrorist" and "smuggler" and mentioned in accusations - whether official or verbal - for orchestrating attacks in Kosovo.
"All these attacks that have happened, but also the attacks in the future that they are planning, are drastically less likely to be realized, if Millan Radoicic is handed over to the institutions of Kosovo, the police and justice", said the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti .
He made this statement after the November 29 attack on Ibër-Lepenc - the canal that supplies water to several cities and thermal power plants in the country. Kurti implicated Radoicic and the Serbian state itself in its organization, although the Serbian leadership denied any responsibility.
Radoicic, on the other hand, has an indictment in Kosovo - for the case of the armed attack in Banjska - which, among other things, charges him with terrorism. There is also an arrest warrant against him.
What is known is that he is in Serbia - at least according to the authorities there. Therefore, Kurti, after the attack in Ibër-Lepenc, asked the international community to put pressure on Belgrade to hand him over to Kosovo.
"There is rule of law in Kosovo. The courts are incomparably better than in Serbia. International reports also say this", said Kurti.
Radio Free Europe did not manage to provide any answer from the Government of Kosovo as to whether it has received any guarantees from the international community. Similarly, neither the US State Department nor the European Union responded to REL's question about how they will proceed after Kurti's call.
Augustin Palokaj, a journalist who has been covering European politics for years, says that the chances of Radoicic surrendering to Kosovo are unrealistic.
"This request or this condition from the Prime Minister of Kosovo is seen as logical and reasonable, since Serbia is not taking any measures".
"Well, Serbia does not extradite anyone to any other country, so the European Union has an understanding for all countries in the region, which do not extradite their citizens to other countries - with the exception of international judicial structures," says Palokaj for the Expose program of Radio Free Europe.
Toby Vogel, of the Council for Democratization Policy in Berlin, says the time to pressure Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to take action against Radoicic is now, before US President-elect Donald Trump takes over office in January.
Vogel says that this pressure should come from the EU, because Trump's return is not expected to bring anything positive to the Western Balkans, according to him.
"If there would be pressure to extradite Radoicic, it is difficult to say, considering the complicated relations between Kosovo and Serbia. It is not unusual for states not to extradite their nationals. But the administration of the current American president, Joe Biden, and the EU must make it clear to Vucic that it is intolerable for Radoicic to continue to be free in Serbia", says Vogel for Expose.
Serbia is also conducting investigations against Radoicic, who has accepted responsibility for the attack in Banjska in September 2023.
A Kosovo policeman was killed in this attack, while in the armed clash that followed, three Serbian attackers were also killed.
The Chief Prosecutor of the High Public Prosecution in Belgrade, Nenad Stefanovic, said at the beginning of this month that the decision to indict Radoicic will be made at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2025.
In Serbia, Radoicic is suspected of other criminal offences, namely "serious crime against general security and illegal production, possession and trafficking of weapons".
After the hearing in Belgrade, in October 2023, he was released, but was asked not to leave Serbia and to report twice a month to the competent police station.
The High Court in Belgrade confirmed that this measure has been extended until January 2025 and that Radoicic is "respecting it".
It is not clear in which part of Serbia he is. The Serbian Ministry of the Interior did not respond to REL's question about which police station it is reported to. Even Radoicic's lawyer, Goran Petronijevic, did not answer REL's calls.
Another Serbian lawyer, Bozho Prellević, says that the decision of the High Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade may be to indict Radoicić, or not to indict him at all.
"The decision is usually made after analyzing the evidence. Since this case is closed to the public, we do not know what evidence the prosecutor has and we do not know who was heard", says Prelleviq.
The Serbian prosecutor's office did not respond to Radio Free Europe's questions about what the investigations have revealed and what actions have been taken.
However, her announcement that she will come out with a decision was made in the days when the EU is expected to decide on the possible unblocking of the membership negotiations with Serbia.
Palokaj says that the EU will connect these two issues with each other, but, according to him, without any tangible results in practice - for this reason:
"There are member states in the EU [such as Hungary], but also in NATO that are not interested in proving Serbia's role in Banjska, because if the EU has classified this attack as terrorist, and if it is proven that Serbia supports the actions of such, then Serbia would have to be treated as a country that sponsors terrorism".
"Well, some EU countries are not interested in such a thing, and neither is the United States of America," says Palokaj.
Palokaj adds that, unofficially, the EU admits that they know exactly who is responsible for the attack in Banjska and that their deeds have already been proven.
He says that the EU, in principle, expects them to be arrested and tried in Serbia, but, according to him, such a thing will not happen, if Serbia sees that there are no consequences for inaction.
This situation undoubtedly also reflects on the dialogue for the normalization of relations with Serbia, because Kurti has conditioned his participation in this process on the surrender of Radoicic.
"I fear that the region is entering a period of great instability, mainly due to the incoming Trump administration," says Vogel.
"The EU must act and it must act now. There must be a completely new approach to dialogue. It seems to me that the new head of EU foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, and the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, are aware of this," he adds.
In a meeting with Kallas, on December 3, Kurti said that he has not given up on the surrender of Radoicic as one of the conditions for continuing the dialogue for the normalization of relations with Serbia.
A day later, in a meeting with the US assistant secretary of state, James O'Brien, Kurti also spoke about the importance of Radoicic's arrest, saying that he has the support of the president of Serbia, Vucic, and the state apparatus there.
In a forum at the end of June, O'Brien said that Serbia has promised that Radoicic will face the law, in connection with the attack in Banjska.
Earlier, through the EU mission for the rule of law in Kosovo, EULEX, Serbia requested information from Kosovo about Banjska, but Kosovo rejected this request.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, also spoke about this this week:
"It is two different things when it is said that we give the evidence we have to Serbia, and that it then organizes a masquerade - maybe a trial for Radoicic - and it is another for Radoicic to be handed over to us through EULEX".
"We cooperate closely with EULEX and we would definitely be willing to use that opportunity to bring Radoicic to justice in the Republic of Kosovo", said Sveçla.
Radoicic has been under US and UK sanctions for years, due to suspicions of corruption and organized crime.
In Kosovo, he is also suspected of several other criminal acts, including the murder of the Serbian politician, Oliver Ivanovic.
The final solution, it seems, will depend entirely on the willingness of the parties involved to engage constructively in the pursuit of justice and stability. But, until such a solution, which is often in the palm of the hand, it may take years. /REL (A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
MUND TE LEXONI GJITHASHTU
