On July 28, before the Basic Court in Pristina, the verdict is expected to be announced in the case of the attack on the offices of the Municipal Election Commission in North Mitrovica in December 2022. Milun Millenkoviæ – Llune, Dejan Pantic, Aleksandar Vllajic and Miomir Vakiæ are accused in this case.
The Kosovo Prosecution Office had filed an indictment in December 2023 for the criminal offense of “terrorist act”. They are accused of having attacked the CEC offices with hand grenades and explosive devices, with the aim – as stated in the indictment – of “destabilizing or destroying the political and constitutional structures of the Republic of Kosovo”. According to the prosecution, the lives of CEC officials and members of the Kosovo Police were seriously endangered by this attack.
In the first hearing, held at the end of January 2024, all the accused pleaded not guilty, A2 reports.
Milenkovic and Vllajic are in custody, while Vakic and Pantic are defending themselves at large.
The trial and the prosecution's evidence
The defense's closing statements were given on Friday, where it was emphasized that the indictment is partly based on intercepted communications through the Viber application. The lawyers denied the accusations against their clients.
The "Oath for Justice" portal, which regularly follows court proceedings in Kosovo, reported that lawyer Lubomir Pantovic stated that all evidence included in the indictment is based on police reports and documents, without any concrete description of the alleged actions of the defendants.
Who are the accused of terrorism?
On December 6, 2022, two explosive devices were thrown at the offices of the Municipal Election Commission in North Mitrovica, one of which exploded.
In this case, on December 9, Dejan Pantic, a former member of the Kosovo Police, was arrested at the Jarinje border crossing, an action that sparked a crisis in the north and the setting up of barricades by local Serbs. The barricades were removed on December 29, after a court decision allowed Pantic to be kept under house arrest.
On June 13, 2023, Milun Millenkovic – Llune was arrested in North Mitrovica. His arrest was followed by the sounding of sirens in the city, which led to gatherings of citizens. During tense periods in the north, these sirens have been used to mobilize the population – shops, pharmacies and commercial spaces were closed, while organized groups took to the streets or set up barricades.
It was not known who was managing these sirens, but in December 2023, Kosovo Police announced that they had confiscated an alarm siren with six speakers in North Mitrovica.
Aleksandar Vllajić was arrested on suspicion of collecting and transmitting confidential information for the Serbian Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA). He was later charged in a separate case with espionage and was sentenced to five years in prison in early June. Vllajić pleaded guilty to the espionage case, but denies involvement in the attack on the CEC.
During the trial, the prosecution presented evidence that Miomir Vakić was also involved in the attack. They presented messages that he exchanged with the accused Dejan Pantic, in which Pantic writes: "Pears are falling here", while Vakić replies: "Throw some apples".
According to the prosecution, this coded language implied the location of the police and the use of bombs./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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