The Basic Court in Prishtina ordered a 30 day detention for Igor Mirkovic, suspected for being part of a group that used violence against international peacekeepers and Kosovo Police officials on May 29, 2023, during civil unrest in the northern municipality of Zvecan. 

According to the prosecution, Mirkovic worked with other suspects and participated in “serious criminal acts aimed at preventing the establishment of the constitutional order in Kosovo’s northern municipalities.”

According to the case file, protesters carried out acts of “unrestrained violence” involving hard objects, explosive devices, and firearms.

The case file states that 30 KFOR personnel and Kosovo Police officers were injured in the clashes that day, including three who suffered gunshot wounds.

Mirkovic is suspected of several offences, including attacking Kosovo’s constitutional order, endangering internationally protected persons, attacking official personnel, hooliganism, and the unauthorised possession of weapons.

The prosecution says its case against Mirkovic is “based on photographic and video evidence, statements from injured parties, medical reports, and his own statement to police on August 16, 2026.”

According to the case file, Mirkovic “fully admits” to the acts he was accused of.

The prosecution also argued that he should remain in detention due to the risk of flight to Serbia, which does not cooperate with Kosovo authorities on criminal and judicial matters. 

“If released, Mirkovic could destroy, conceal, or falsify evidence, interfere with the investigation, influence other alleged perpetrators, or put pressure on witnesses and other people whom investigators are still working to identify.”

The Kosovo Police and the Special Prosecution announced Mirkovic’s arrest on August 16. 

The violence in Zvecan erupted after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in several northern municipalities following local elections that were largely boycotted by Kosovo Serbs. Local Serbs and groups of protesters mobilised to prevent the newly elected mayors from entering the municipal buildings. 

Mirkovic is not the first person to face charges over the May 2023 violence in the northern municipalities.

In January 2026, the Special Prosecution also announced the arrest of another suspect, identified by the initials S.R., for involvement in the attacks against KFOR and the Kosovo Police in May 2023.

In February 2024, two Serb men, Rados Petrovic and Dusan Obrenovic, were found guilty of participating in the riots. Petrovic received a six-month prison sentence, later converted to a fine of 6,000 euros. Obrenovic was also sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.

Serb mayors only retook power in the north after the October 2025 local elections. In December 2025, Serb mayors from the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party were sworn into office.