Kosovska Mitrovica – The defense of Srećko Sofronijević (37) from Zvečan, a Serb who was once seriously wounded by special units of the Kosovo Police in the village of Rudaru, filed an appeal to the appellate court against the decision of the so-called special court. of Kosovo on one-month detention. Lawyer Nebojša Vlajić emphasized for “Politika” that he cannot say when the answer from this higher court instance should arrive, but that the decision on detention is unfounded, and the reason given is that “Sofronijević could escape”. This Serb from the north of Kosmet was arrested ten days ago at the Brnjak administrative crossing, in the presence of his two children and his wife.
“He lived with his family in Zvečan, where his children went to school, all the time since the incident for which he is accused, and in three years no one was looking for him.” Could someone who thinks he is guilty sit quietly and wait for handcuffs to be put on him”, asks lawyer Vlajić, who states that the court “despite his arguments that Sofronijević was not on the run and has no intention of do it now”, still decided to order him in judicial custody until May 12. Namely, the so-called the special court claimed that if Sofronijević is free “he can hide or run away to avoid criminal responsibility, since the defendant is also a citizen of Serbia”.
In this way, the Pristina “judiciary” and the regime of Albin Kurti continued the persecution of Serbs, who, essentially because of their refusal to move out of Kosmet, were arrested without grounds or kept in their casemates for a long time. The example of Sofronijević shows how illogical the decisions on detention are, after someone has been intercepted and arrested. The impression is that Serbs are actually being punished by prolonging detention and staged trials, because they do not want to leave their hearths, and not to run away from the Pristina authorities. And all this while the international patrons of Pristina exert the greatest pressure so far for the so-called Kosovo, despite all norms and rules, will be accepted into the membership of the Council of Europe.
According to the court, Sofronijević was allegedly identified as one of the members of the group that “attacked police officers” in Zvečan in October 2021. He is also accused of allegedly “being in a group that erected barricades in the village of Rudaru and made an ambush, from which an armed woman attacked the police and wounded one policeman.” However, Sofronijević was then painfully wounded in the back by gunshots while trying to remove the child. And after emergency care at the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica, he was treated for a long time in one of the Belgrade health institutions. Like most of the arrested Serbs, from the moment he was deprived of his freedom, he is in a high-risk prison in the village of Grdovac near Podujevo.
And while Sofronijević is waiting for the decision of the appellate court, this same instance the day before yesterday confirmed the indictment in the case of Dragiša Milenković (53), from Kišnica, accused of alleged war crimes against the civilian population in Kosovo and Metohija. The argument and request of the defense to dismiss the indictment as unfounded was rejected, because the investigation conducted by the special prosecution, the so-called Kosovo is illegal. As lawyer Dejan A. told the media. Vasić, the defense was never called in connection with the implementation of investigative actions by the police and during the hearing of witnesses. Milenković was arrested last year in June and is one of the nine Serbs who were deprived in a very short period of time in the same year. They were also transferred to the detention unit in the high-risk prison in Podujevo.
In just one day, three Serbs were arrested in Kosovska Mitrovica. Ilija Elezović, after inhumane conditions in prison, and otherwise seriously ill, died just two months after being released from house arrest to defend himself. Dragan Milović from Zvečan did not want to sell the land located in Srbica, which, according to the lawyer, was the reason for his arrest and one of the most serious crimes. Two hours after that arrest, Kurti’s “police” brutally arrested Zoran Kostić (71), a Serbian householder and prominent businessman, in Prilužje. He was practically kidnapped in front of the house by members of the special unit of the Kosovo Police, as he had previously gone out into the yard at the invitation of KEDS workers. Later it turned out that it was a prearranged agreement between Pristina’s special forces and the workers who took him out to look at the electric meter.
Since the summer of last year, Žarko Zarić, a returnee from the village of Ljubožda near Istok, as well as Momir Pantić, who was arrested at the Merdare crossing, have been in prison in Podujevo, although he has been coming to Kosovo and Metohija since the war. Behind the bars are many other Serbs who were practically kidnapped or brutally beaten by Rosu, as is the case with Milun Milenkovic Lunet (35), a prominent sports worker from Kosovska Mitrovica, who was arrested in the city center, in front of his minor daughter. Whether it is about Serbian returnees to their homelands, or about those who were not temporarily displaced, they all have in common that they refused to permanently leave Kosmet, or sell their properties to Albanians.
