Dukađin Mađuni (Dugagjin Maxhuni), who was arrested on August 12 at the Batrovci border crossing on suspicion of committing a war crime against the civilian population in Bec near Đakovica, has been released, his lawyer Arijanit Koci announced this morning. Mađuni had previously been placed in detention for up to 30 days.
“Dukađin Mađuni has been released,” Koci announced on Facebook.
According to him, Mađuni is now returning to his family.
“From that day on, I said that Dukađin was not guilty and that the allegations against him did not stand. Today, he is free,” Koci stated.
In his morning post, the lawyer did not specify on the basis of which decision Mađuni was released, nor whether the proceedings against him had been terminated.
Koci also said that other citizens from Kosovo whom he claims have been “unjustly detained” are currently in Serbia, adding that he will continue to work professionally toward securing their release.
From being held for verification to detention on suspicion of war crimes
The case was first brought to public attention by Koci himself on August 13.
At the time, he said that Mađuni, born on May 10, 1979, and originally from the village of Bec near Đakovica, had been detained the previous evening while crossing the border between Serbia and Croatia.
According to his claims at the time, Mađuni was initially detained for verification, and several hours later his family was informed that he had been transferred to Belgrade and that “the proceedings against him were continuing.”
At that point, neither the reason nor the legal basis for his detention was known.
The Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a statement the following day, August 14, confirming the arrest of D.M. (1979) at Batrovci on reasonable suspicion that he had committed a war crime against the civilian population.
The information released by the Ministry at the time — initials, year of birth, place of arrest and the fact that the investigation concerned the village of Bec near Đakovica — matched the information Koci had previously provided about Dukađin Mađuni.
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that the suspicion concerned events from June 1999 in Bec and “members of two families.”
The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not provide further details about the incident of which D.M. is suspected, nor the identities of the alleged victims.
Mađuni was initially placed in police custody for up to 48 hours, after which he was brought before the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office with a criminal complaint.
A pre-trial judge of the Higher Court in Belgrade — War Crimes Chamber ordered his detention for up to 30 days.
Pristina sent a verbal note to the Quint
The arrest was also met with a reaction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora in Pristina on August 15.
The ministry said it had, through its Liaison Office in Belgrade, informed the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia and sent a verbal note to the diplomatic missions of the Quint countries accredited in Serbia.
They stated that the goal was to engage international partners to protect Mađuni’s rights and security.
A formal request to visit Mađuni was also announced, along with continued monitoring of the case through the Liaison Office.
A series of arrests of citizens from Kosovo in Serbia
Mađuni’s arrest was one of a series of cases in which people from Kosovo have been arrested or detained in Serbia in recent months.
At the beginning of August, the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that M.M. (1981) had been arrested at Horgoš on suspicion that he had committed a war crime against the civilian population against T.S. and S.S. in the village of Klobukar on July 26, 1999.
Koci had previously also reported on Avdi Memčaj, an Albanian from Kosovo who, according to his claims, has been in detention in Serbia since May 20.
In recent years, several people from Kosovo have been arrested in Serbia on suspicion of or charges related to war crimes, including Mithat Ložani, Arbnor Spahiu, Ljuljzim Haljilji, Behar Prenići, Hazir Haziri, Avni Ćenaj, as well as brothers Džemailj and Baškim Emini, while some were later released from detention.
The European Union also reacted to the arrest of Mithat Ložani in February. In a response to KoSSev at the time, it was stated that under the 2015 Justice Agreement, Serbia had committed not to initiate criminal investigations and proceedings for alleged war crimes committed in Kosovo unless requested to do so by the Kosovo authorities.
KoSSev subsequently asked the EU for additional clarification of the legal basis for such an interpretation, since such a provision is not explicitly contained in the publicly available versions of the Justice Agreement. No response was received. However, Dejan Mirović, a professor of international law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pristina temporarily based in Kosovska Mitrovica, claimed that the European Union was referring in this case to the so-called Mustafa–Vučić justice agreement.
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Source: KoSSev Foto: Kim
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