Prosecutors in Kosovo withdrew a warrant for the arrest of Kosovo Serb powerbroker Milan Radoicic in connection with the 2018 murder of local Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic because Radoicic had offered “credible information” on the killing, Chief Special Prosecutor Blerim Isufaj has said, following years of speculation.

In an interview with BIRN and Internews Kosova’s Kallxo Pernime show, Isufaj said that Radoicic’s lawyer had told the prosecutor in case, Burim Cerkini, “that his client was willing to cooperate, and that if the warrant was lifted, he would deliver very credible information regarding the murder of Oliver Ivanovic”. He did not name the lawyer.

Ivanovic, a well-known Serb politician in northern Kosovo and frequent interlocutor of the international community, was gunned down outside his party offices in North Mitrovica on January 16, 2018, sending shockwaves through Kosovo.

In June last year, a Pristina court found four Serbs – Nedeljko Spasojevic, Marko Rosic, Zarko Jovanovic and Dragisa Markovic – guilty of involvement in the murder; Radoicic, a businessman and Belgrade-backed politician, and close associate Zvonko Veselinovic were mentioned in the indictment but never charged. They both denied involvement.

Isufaj said he was against the offer from Radoicic’s lawyer but that Cerkini pursued it with the backing of then Chief State Prosecutor Aleksander Lumezi. The arrest warrant was lifted on March 1, 2021, though the prosecution at the time did not specify why.

“Since a prosecutor is independent in how they handle a case, I couldn’t become an obstacle by saying ‘No’,” Isufaj said. Cerkini could not be reached for comment.

Referring to speculation about the reasons why the warrant was lifted, Isufaj told Kallxo Pernine:
“If any evidence surfaces indicating that the warrant’s withdrawal was linked to criminal activity, we will initiate an uncompromising investigation”.

The warrant was reissued in 2022.

Isufaj: Serbia orchestrated 2023 Banjska attack

Radoicic is currently the target of five active arrest warrants issued by Kosovo authorities.

One concerns the Ivanovic murder, and another an armed attack on a police patrol in September 2023 in which one police officer was killed.

Radoicic fled the scene of the 2023 attack in the village of Banjska and, 13 days later, spoke from Serbia to claim responsibility; he resigned as deputy head of the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party.

Isufaj repeated Kosovo’s claim that the attack was directly orchestrated by Serbia, a charge Serbia has dismissed.

“It was a structured group with a defined role,” he said. “The goal was clear: annexation of the north, or possibly more.”

“They were trained in Serbian military barracks, which proves this was a well-planned attack by Serbian authorities. An organisation of that level could not have happened without the backing of Serbian state institutions.”

Radocic is currently living in Serbia, a free man.

Isufaj said prosecutors in Kosovo have no institutional cooperation with Serbia.

“Serbia shares no information with us,” he said. “Occasionally, they contact the Special Prosecution using logos referring to Kosovo as a province of Serbia, and naturally, we do not respond.”

In 2022, BIRN reported that despite a 2013 agreement on ‘mutual legal assistance’ brokered by the European Union, cooperation between Belgrade and Pristina on criminal cases remains extremely limited.

Court monitoring has highlighted constant delays in criminal proceedings in Kosovo due to a lack of cooperation from Serbia, particularly when it comes to cases of war crimes or those involving high-profile individuals, such as Radoicic.