Lawyer Ivan Ninić, on behalf of Dragana Vukašinović, the mother of Milan Vukašinović from Leposavić, who Kosovan authorities suspect was wounded and kidnapped by the Serbian Gendarmerie, filed a criminal complaint with the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prokuplje for the criminal offense of aggravated attempted murder.
The criminal complaint was filed against unknown persons (NN) who are members of the Serbian Army or the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP), or Milan Radoičić – the former vice-president of Srpska Lista who took responsibility for the armed attack in Banjska in northern Kosovo in September 2023.
The incident in the village of Jelakce near Leposavić, in which Milan Vukašinović was wounded by masked individuals according to lawyer Ivan Ninić, and then transported to the hospital in Prokuplje, and then to the Clinical Hospital Center in Niš, occurred on November 1.
The criminal complaint, which Radio Free Europe (RFE) had access to, states that Vukašinović had a “long tradition of personal conflicts with Milan Radoičić, and that there were justified reasons for the injured party to be kidnapped and deprived of life under unexplained circumstances.”
On November 4, Ninić told RFE that through his own channels he had obtained information that Milan Vukašinović was first transported to the hospital in Prokuplje after being wounded, that three jeeps without license plates participated in the action, and that it was later determined that these vehicles most likely belonged to the Third Army of the Serbian Army. A fourth vehicle had license plates. The persons involved in the entire operation were in black and dark green camouflage uniforms, did not have markings of the Army or Gendarmerie, and wore ‘phantom’ masks (balaclavas).
He also said that the individuals he mentioned were observed by citizens in Prokuplje and workers at the Prokuplje hospital.
The Kosovo Police commented on the case on November 3, stating that they had interviewed eyewitnesses and received information from them that “masked persons entered the territory of Kosovo, injured and abducted the victim, and then took him to the territory of Serbia.”
Serbian authorities, on the other hand, have not yet commented on the case.
RFE contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Serbia, but no response was received.
Milan Vukašinović was employed at the Kosovo Insurance Office at the Jarinje border crossing in northern Kosovo.
RFE also determined, based on facial recognition forensic tools, that Vukašinović is the same person who publicly spoke on June 28 this year about the pressure he was under in an interview with journalist and former member of the Serbian Parliament, Nemanja Šarović, from KTV television in Serbia.
At that time, he said that Serbs had left Kosovo institutions in November 2022 under pressure from Srpska Lista, and claimed that he personally had suffered pressure and did not feel safe traveling to Serbia because he did not want to resign.
“They made up all sorts of things about me, they connected me with Albanians, I am not safe to travel to Serbia, I am only here in Kosovo, I avoid Serbia,” he said, among other things.
Ninić previously told RFE that, as the lawyer for the Vukašinović family, he was concerned that the Serbian authorities had not commented and that he still did not know if Vukašinović was suspected of any crime, whether a detention measure had been ordered, or which prosecutor’s office was handling the case.
He specified that it is unknown whether the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prokuplje conducted an investigation, who participated in the action, what the goal of the action was, whether the action was a consequence of a state decision or if unauthorized third parties were involved.
“There are many questions and few answers, we will insist on answers. As a lawyer, I do not have an institution I can turn to and communicate with,” he said.
RFE contacted the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Prokuplje, but no response was received.
In the criminal complaint, lawyer Ninić proposes to this prosecution, among other things, to interview Milan Vukašinović at the Clinical Center in Niš, conduct a crime scene investigation, request the identification of the Lada Niva car Vukašinović used to arrive in the village of Jelakce, and obtain the video footage from the health institution in Prokuplje, as well as public surveillance cameras.
Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani stated that the democratic world must react and stop Serbia’s “attacks” which threaten peace and stability.
The acting Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, stated that the action in the Vukašinović case is part of Serbia’s policy based on intimidation and persecution of citizens who do not submit to the regime of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
The NATO Mission in Kosovo (KFOR), which is responsible for the border area, previously told RFE that it was aware of the Kosovo Police report regarding the suspicion that the Serbian Gendarmerie injured and abducted a Kosovo Serb, adding that the security situation on the border is calm.
RFE also contacted the Basic Prosecution in Mitrovica for more details, but did not receive a response.
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