The Basic Court has extended detention by a further 48 hours for five Kosovo Serbs from Suvo Grlo — Ratko Kragović and Predrag, Nebojša, Goran and Siniša Tomašević — pending a final decision on remand.
The ruling followed a hearing held at the prosecutor’s request to impose pre-trial detention. The court reviewed allegations relating to suspected war crimes dating back to 1998.
Defence: “No concrete description of events”
Speaking after the session, defence lawyer Jelena Krivokapić argued that the prosecution had failed to provide sufficient evidence even to meet the threshold of reasonable suspicion.
“We presented strong arguments to convince the court that the prosecutor has not provided evidence or relevant facts even for grounded suspicion. There is no description of any specific event — only a list of witnesses, without descriptions of actions. There are numerous inconsistencies, and what little description exists is illogical,” Krivokapić told reporters.
She added that defence attorneys urged the judge to consider the broader implications of the decision.
“All of us asked the judge to think carefully before ruling on these men — family people who have lived here for years, alongside the very neighbours who are now reportedly listed as witnesses. After everything we heard, one gets the impression that the aim is to secure convictions at any cost.”
Addressing the allegations against her client specifically, Krivokapić said the charge rests on a single witness statement claiming he pointed a rifle at an individual who allegedly escaped by jumping into a hole.
“I explained how an objective observer would assess such a claim. There is no clarity as to how this is objective or realistic — that someone allegedly fled into a hole and was not pursued.”
She also maintained that her client was not in the village at the time of the alleged crime, stating he was visiting relatives in another village during the Orthodox feast of the Holy Trinity.
“We will have to prove his innocence, rather than the other way around,” she said.
Lawyer Lazić: Presumption of innocence overlooked
Another defence attorney, Bogdan Lazić, echoed concerns about due process, arguing that the court appeared to disregard the presumption of innocence.
“My client is suspected because a witness claims to have seen him present at a location where a man later disappeared and was subsequently killed. The witness does not state that he saw the act committed — only that he suspects he might have done it. On that basis alone, the prosecution is seeking detention.”
Lazić said the defendants would now have to challenge these allegations from custody.
Arrests across multiple locations
The arrests were carried out early the previous morning in coordinated police operations at six locations — five in the municipality of Srbica and one in North Mitrovica.
Five individuals were detained on suspicion of involvement in the killing of six Albanian civilians in Suvo Grlo between May and June 1998. They were initially ordered into custody for up to 48 hours. One of those detained has since been released, while the remaining four now await a final ruling expected within the next two days.
Albanian-language media publish “war crimes lists”
On the same day, several Albanian-language outlets circulated lists naming individuals described as “Serb war criminals from the Kosovo war,” accompanied by photographs.
A report published by the portal Telegrafi claimed the list was compiled based on cases reviewed by international investigative bodies and United Nations war crimes investigators. It cited former UN investigator Denis Milner as stating that inquiries had primarily focused on senior political and military leadership in Belgrade at the time.
The article also noted that investigations remain incomplete and called on alleged victims — particularly women who had not previously reported crimes — to come forward to organisations documenting war crimes across Kosovo.
Serbian community voices concern
The Eparchy of Raška and Prizren warned that such arrests risk deepening insecurity among the remaining Serbian population in central Kosovo.
“Our small communities are not abstract ‘minorities’, but concrete people and families trying to live and work normally, raise their children and remain in their homes,” the Eparchy said in a statement.
While stressing that every war crime must be investigated and justice ensured for all victims regardless of ethnicity, the Church cautioned against what it described as an atmosphere of collective guilt and selective law enforcement.
The arrests were also condemned by the Srpska lista, Serbia’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who said that Pristina acts with what he called the tacit support of Western countries.
Local residents in Goraždevac have similarly described the detained men as respected family members with no prior public accusations over the past two and a half decades.
Suvo Grlo, along with Banje and Crkolez, remains among the last Serbian villages in the Drenica region to have endured since the post-1999 displacement of much of the Serb population.
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