PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo prosecutors on Wednesday filed charges against 45 people over a gunfight following an incursion by heavily armed Serb gunmen last year, as tensions rise between Serbia and its former breakaway province.
A Kosovo policeman and three Serb gunmen were killed in the shootout in the village of Banjska in September. Kosovo has accused Serbia of involvement, but Belgrade denied it.
Among those charged in absentia is Milan Radoicic, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and President Aleksandar Vucic. Prosecutor Naim Abazi said he is considered the leader of the group who “has played an important role in coordinating and in the criminal activity.”
Last year Serbia briefly detained Radoicic after he fled back into Serbia on suspicion of criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of weapons and explosives and grave acts against public safety. Radoicic denied the charges although earlier admitted he was part of the paramilitary group involved in the gunfight.
Radoicic also has been under U.S. and British sanctions for his alleged financial criminal activity. Serbia said that Radoicic and his group acted on their own.
The 45 people face charges of violation of the constitutional and legal order, terror activities, funding terrorism and money laundering. They carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Abazi considered the case as the “most complex they have ever had,” adding they cooperated closely with international institutions, the European Union and the United States to build up the “powerful charges.”
EU and U.S. officials have demanded that Serbia bring the perpetrators to justice.
Brussels and Washington are pressing both sides to implement agreements that Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti reached in February and March last year. They include a commitment by Kosovo to establish an Association of the Serb-Majority Municipalities. Serbia is also expected to deliver on the de-facto recognition of Kosovo, which Belgrade still considers its province.
The U.S. and EU have urged Kosovo to refrain from unilateral actions, like closing the so-called parallel state institutions in the Serb-majority north, the full reopening of a bridge in the flashpoint city of Mitrovica, and the closure of six branches of a Serbia-licensed bank earlier this year.
The NATO-led international peacekeepers known as KFOR have increased their presence in Kosovo after last year’s tense moments.
Kosovo was a Serbian province until NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left about 13,000 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out. Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008.
