Hoxha: Vučić’s statements on Radoičić show Serbia’s involvement in Banjska and should concern the international community

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Monday that Milan Radoičić, who has admitted responsibility for the armed attack on Kosovo Police in Banjska, Zvečan, in 2023 and for whom an Interpol red notice has been issued, is not facing criminal prosecution for any criminal offense.

“You have not said why Milan Radoičić is on a red notice. It is not because of a crime, but because of Kosovo,” Vučić said during a press conference.

According to security expert Valdet Hoxha, the public support the Serbian president is giving to Milan Radoičić highlights, as he puts it, the Serbian state’s involvement in organizing and supporting the terrorist attack in Banjska.

Hoxha stresses that the investigation conducted by Kosovo’s Special Prosecution, in cooperation with international partners, has secured evidence which, according to him, links Serbia to this attack. According to him, the protection being afforded to Radoičić aims to diminish Belgrade’s responsibility.

“The defense that Vučić is providing to Radoičić and the criminal group that carried out the attack in Banjska in the Republic of Kosovo is proof that this criminal group led by Radoičić, and the terrorist attack against the country’s sovereignty and against the constitutional order, was planned, organized, financed, and trained by the Serbian state itself.

The role of the Serbian state, through its military and intelligence-security structures, in the terrorist attack against the constitutional order of the Republic of Kosovo, as well as the purpose of this act, has also been confirmed by a professional investigation by the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo, with the help of law enforcement mechanisms of international partners. Therefore, Vučić, faced with this competent and professional evidentiary situation, is trying to grant amnesty to Radoičić by taking him under his protection, in an effort to reduce the responsibility of the Serbian state,” he says.

He assesses that Vučić’s stance should be seen as an alarm signal for international partners because, according to Hoxha, these statements show that nationalist rhetoric continues and that Radoičić’s actions are being justified.

Likewise, Hoxha calls for Radoičić and his associates to be brought to justice, underscoring that Kosovo should continue, in coordination with international partners, efforts to arrest them.

“This stance by Vučić should also be an alarm for international partners because it clearly shows that Vučić continues with nationalist rhetoric and that by using terms such as ‘Radoičić is not on the red notice because of crime but because of Kosovo,’ he makes it known that Vučić and the Serbian state not only see intervention in Kosovo as an option, but also justify it as a mode of action.

Radoičić and the criminal group that carried out the terrorist attack against the constitutional order of the Republic of Kosovo must and will sooner or later face the justice of the state of Kosovo, and Kosovo must take every procedural step, in coordination and cooperation with other friendly countries, for the arrest of Radoičić and his associates,” he concluded for “Bota sot”.