Milorad Đoković from Vitomirica, near Peć, has been sentenced in the first instance to 10 years in prison by the Basic Court in Pristina for an alleged war crime committed during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo and Metohija.
Judge Donika Shalja, who presided over the panel, stated in the verdict that Đoković, in the village of Ozdrim near Peć, acting as a “reserve police officer in joint perpetration with other Serbian police officers, participated in the search, beating, and arrest of dozens of Albanian civilians.”
“After three days of torture, the group was released, while others were sent to prison in central Serbia,” the judge read out. She stated that the time spent in court-ordered detention would be credited toward the sentence and that Đoković would remain in detention until the verdict became final.
Milorad Đoković’s defense attorneys, Vasilije Arsić and Dejan Vasić, are convinced that the first-instance verdict will be overturned by a higher court and have announced an appeal.
“Unfortunately, the court has issued a verdict sentencing Đoković to 10 years in prison solely on the basis of an alleged claim that he participated in the mistreatment of Albanian civilians in 1999. As the defense, we will certainly appeal this verdict. However, what is positive for the defense is that we managed to prove that Đoković did not participate in any murder, even though the prosecutor claimed that he had taken part in the killing of eight people,” Arsić said.
He explained that the findings in the verdict were, for the time being, very brief and unclear, meaning that they could not yet comment on the entire ruling in full. However, they had “plenty of material to overturn this verdict as well, which they consider unjust toward Milorad Đoković.”
“As the defense, we have done everything possible to prove Đoković’s innocence, and we believe that we will confirm this even more strongly during the appeals process,” Arsić emphasized.
Dejan Vasić added that they were “partially dissatisfied with the verdict, bearing in mind that the court convicted Milorad Đoković on only one count of the indictment, while finding him not guilty of the two most important and most serious charges.”
“That part of the indictment, concerning murder, was dismissed at the first-instance trial. I must point out that, in procedural terms, the panel that tried Milorad Đoković’s case was the most mature panel to have handled a case before the Special Department of the Basic Court in Pristina. The mystery of why Milorad was convicted on the charge relating to the unlawful detention of civilians will probably be resolved by the Court of Appeals during the appeals process,” Vasić said after the verdict was announced.
Đoković was arrested on June 27, 2022, on suspicion of allegedly committing a war crime in May 1999 in the village of Ozdrim near Peć.
According to the prosecution, he allegedly participated in the killing of “eight civilians and the expulsion of several dozen Albanians.”
At trial, he pleaded not guilty.
Đoković worked as a civil registrar in the village of Goraždevac and never left the municipality of Peć. He was the only Serb living in Vitomirica.
He was involved in a dispute with local Albanians and the administration in Peć over ownership rights to his property in Vitomirica.
The court case against Đoković began when he started trying to resolve his property issues in Vitomirica. During the evidentiary proceedings, one witness claimed that Đoković had allegedly taken some land from his great-grandfather, and that this was where the problem began.
Đoković’s verdict is the seventh first-instance ruling issued this year by the Basic Court in Pristina in cases involving war crimes against Albanians during the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija 27 years ago.
Several dozen Serbs are currently in prisons in Kosovo and Metohija, either serving sentences for alleged war crimes or facing trial or awaiting the initiation of court proceedings against them.
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Source: RTS, Foto: Printscreen Kosovo online
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