Slavko Simic, the deputy leader of Srpska Lista, the Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb party, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to participating in and ordering attacks on journalists in 2023 during unrest in the Serb-majority municipality of Leposavic in north Kosovo.

“Honourable judge, I am absolutely not guilty,” Simic, whose party is backed by Belgrade, told the court. His co-accused, Uros Vukasinovic, pleaded not guilty at the initial hearing too.

Simic and Vukasinovic are charged with being part of a violent, masked mob that attacked reporters. Vukasinovic is also charged with assault.

Prosecutor Ajtene Zoni told the court that Simic “willingly participated in the crowd of more than eight persons, which with its joint actions caused general danger”.

He said the mob first threw stun grenades at Elbert Krasniqi, the Minister of Local Governance, and then, encouraged by Simic shouting “hit the media”, attacked 12 Kosovo journalists.

According to the prosecutor, stun grenades were thrown towards the journalists, who were then hit and kicked and had bricks and paint thrown at them, damaging phones and vehicles. Two journalists suffered serious physical injuries.

Co-defendant Vukasinovic, according to the prosecutor, was part of the crowd and directly attacked the journalists.

Angry protests by Serbs erupted when ethnic Albanian mayors were appointed to run Serb-majority municipalities after Kosovo Serb voters boycotted local elections.

In another incident connected to the 2023 unrest, defendant Dalibor Spasic was convicted of involvement in attacks on journalists during protests by Serbs in Zvecan, northern Kosovo. He received a six-month jail term that was converted into a fine.

Spasic was found guilty of participation in a crowd that attacked journalist Burim Zariqi in May 2023, while Zariqi was reporting on clashes between troops from NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping force and ethnic Serbs protesting against the town’s newly appointed ethnic Albanian mayor. Spasic admitted guilt and expressed regret.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, registered 30 attacks on journalists during the protests in the north of Kosovo. Protesters threw rocks and eggs at journalists, pushed them, forced them to delete footage, took away their cameras and verbally assaulted them. Vehicles of media crews were vandalised.

Kosovo Police arrested two suspects for participating in the attacks against KFOR, including Milun “Lune” Milenkovic and three other suspects for attacks on journalists in Zvecan and Leposavic in May 2023.