Court issues arrest warrants for Radoicic and 10 others for barricades in the north in 2022

The Basic Court of Pristina issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for Milan Radoić and 10 other suspects, in connection with the erection of barricades in the Serb-majority north of Kosovo in 2022.

Radoićić and 50 other suspects are being investigated for allegedly undermining Kosovo's constitutional order and participating in protests and the erection of barricades in the north of the country in 2022.

"The Basic Court in Pristina has approved the request of the Special Prosecution, respectively the prosecutor of the case, for the issuance of a domestic and international arrest warrant against Milan Radoićić. The arrest warrant was issued as part of the investigative actions being undertaken in the case of the placement of barricades in the four northern municipalities in 2022," the spokesperson for the Special Prosecution, Arbnora Luta, told the media.

Radoicic – who is already wanted in Kosovo for war crimes and the attack in Banjska – was the vice-president of the Serbian List, the largest Serb party in Kosovo, at the time he is suspected of committing the criminal offence in 2022.

The approval of the request of the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office to issue arrest warrants for him and others comes on the day when the hearing of the leader of the Serbian List, Zllatan Ellek, before the Special Prosecution Office in Pristina was postponed, after his lawyer was ill.

The Serbian List reacted on Wednesday to this decision, saying that "by expelling Serbian police officers born and who have lived for decades in Kosovo, by issuing arrest warrants and by questioning dozens of Serbs for peaceful protests held in 2022, Albin Kurti is swiftly and openly implementing a plan for the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian people from the territory of Kosovo."

"This is about institutional violence that is exerting unprecedented pressure on honest Serbs, who do not give up their Serbian first and last name, who do not accept being Kurti's servants and who have now become targets simply because they are Serbs," said the Serbian List.

On December 10, 2022, barricades were erected in northern Kosovo due to the arrest of Dejan Pantic, a former police officer, whom Kosovo authorities accused of participating in the attack on the premises of the Kosovo Central Election Commission.

Those barricades were removed on December 29, following a call from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and after Pantic was placed under house arrest.

The barricades followed a series of incidents and heightened tensions after Serbs left Kosovo institutions in the north in early November 2022, at the initiative of the Serbian List.

The latter opposed the decision of the Government of Kosovo to replace Serbian car license plates with those of the Republic of Kosovo.

What happened at the barricades in 2022 and who supported them?

Serbian List officials publicly supported the barricades in northern Kosovo in December 2022 and were physically present at places where roads were blocked with heavy machinery, giving encouraging messages to the gathered citizens.

The then-chairman of the Serbian List, Goran Rakic, said that these barricades were “a reaction, not an action.”

At those barricades, as well as those erected in July 2022 or September 2021, there were mainly employees of Serbian institutions operating in Kosovo.

These institutions, except for educational and health institutions, were meanwhile closed by the Kosovo authorities, who considered them illegal and parallel.

During the time of the barricades, most restaurants in northern Kosovo were closed, or only offered food for takeaway.

Workers told Radio Free Europe at the time that "sitting inside is not allowed," but they did not say who had prohibited this.

At that time, the vice-president of the Serbian List was Milan Radoićić, who resigned from this position in September 2023, after taking responsibility for the armed attack in Banjska.

In this attack, armed Serbs killed a Kosovo policeman, while in the ensuing gunfight, three more Serb attackers were killed.

Although Kosovo authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Radoić for involvement in corruption, intimidation in court proceedings and the murder of Serbian politician Oliver Ivanovic, the Serbian List confirmed in 2022 that its deputy leader was present at the barricades, emphasizing that he “enjoys support among Serbs in Kosovo” and that he is an “authority” for them. /REL/