Almost three years after the armed conflict in Spa there are hardly any people on the street in that village. The "Rajska Banja" complex is closed. Only the croaking of frogs can be heard from the pool, eerie in that silence.
Before leaving, it is possible that the Serbs there will draw your attention to the fact that the Kosovo police legitimize passers-by more often than usual, but that's the end of it.
At the top of the hill is a monastery, the endowment of King Milutin. People wake up on holidays and during liturgies.
At the end of April, it was pronounced judgment three accused of participating in the armed conflict in Banjska.
Photo: AP Photo/Visar KryeziuBanjska after the armed conflict, September 27, 2023.
Blagoje Spasojević and Vladimir Tolić were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Dušan Maksimović to 30 years. All three were convicted of terrorism, an attack on the constitutional order of Kosovo and serious crimes against public security. The indictment stated that the group's goal was the "annexation" of northern Kosovo.
The sentencing was open to the public, so some of the Albanian cameramen pointed their lenses at the faces of the family members of the convicted Dušan Maksimović, who was the only one of the accused who appeared at the sentencing.
Radoičić enjoys his freedom.
On September 24, 2024, a clash took place between a group of Kosovo Serbs and the police. Then Stefan Nedeljković, Igor Milenković and Bojan Mijailović were killed, as well as member of the Kosovo Police Afrim Bunjaku.
Then, Milan Radoičić, then vice-president of the Serbian List, admitted that he led the armed group. However, even after all this time, the Serbian prosecutor's office did not file an indictment.
Photo: Tanjug/Sava RadovanovićMilan Radoćić: Expansion of business in Serbia
Radoičić is officially banned from leaving Serbia, but not banned from visiting places before local elections on behalf of the Serbian Progressive Party.
Thus, on the eve of a meeting of the Serbian Progressive Party before last year's elections, he was in Kosjerić, according to the testimony of eyewitnesses. Then the group of citizens "Clean people for clean Kosjerić" announced that Radoičić "openly threatened citizens" in a restaurant.
According to BIRN and Radio Free Europe, A villa is being built in Dedinje. in the name of Radoičić's ex-wife Ema Radoičić. The first neighbors are Radoicić's business partner Zvonko Veselinović and the godfather of the President of Serbia, Nikola Petrović.
Photo: Screenshot / YoutubeMilan Raoičić in Banjska Monastery, September 24, 2023.
Radoičić is not within reach of the Kosovo authorities, just like forty other accused for the same thing for which the three were convicted.
Last words of defense
Miloš Delević, the defense attorney of Vladimir Tolić, said that his client was guilty because he participated in an "armed rebellion", but when considering the decision on the sentence, the court should, the lawyer stated at the time, accept that he did not shoot, that he was a family man, and that he "was the ninth hole in the pipe", i.e. a totally irrelevant person in this event.
Delevic added that he will not claim that Tolic is innocent, but he also said that he is not guilty of the criminal offense he is charged with.
Blagoj Spasojević's lawyer, Ljubomir Pantović, stated that his client is accused of the most serious crimes, and that the second accused is right behind Milan Radoičić.
"It is unclear on the basis of which criteria the prosecution made such a list of the defendants. The second defendant was mentioned only three times in the 121-page indictment. Some other defendants who are not here and are not on trial were mentioned much more," said Pantović.
Photo: TanjugZvečan: Lighting candles for the Serbs killed in Banjska
He emphasized that Spasojević was ready to plead guilty, and that they discussed it, but that in the end they decided not to enter a plea on the indictment because the point about the secession of the territory was added.
During the presentation of the defense's last words, Tolić, just like Spasojević, said that Dušan Maksimović was not part of the events in Banjska.
Maskimović's defense attorney, Jovana Filipović, claimed during the presentation of the last words of the defense that Maksimović was not in Banjska that day, but that he was with his friends in Suvo Dol. Then, she claimed, he came to Banjska.
Political or legal trial?
Dejan Nedeljković, originally from the village of Banjska and a member of the Civic Initiative "North for All", told Vreme that the outcome of the trial had been known since the arrest. He calls the trial "more political than legal."
"Despite the fact that Spasojević and Tolić were caught in uniform and with weapons, as participants in the case in Banjska, it was not proven that there were gunpowder particles for them to prove that they fired. Therefore, their guilt was not proven except for their participation in the event in Banjska," says Nedeljković.
The story of Maksimović as a "child" who lives with them in Banjska.
"The night before the conflict in Banjska, he and his company were in the village of Suvi Do, which is located above Banjska. That group of guys from this village, about fifteen of them, make a barbecue every last weekend of the month, and each time someone else hosts it," says our interlocutor.
Photo: AP Photo/Visar KryeziuKosovo police in front of Banjska Monastery
"When they heard the shooting, they went down to Banjska to a building that is normally intended for social assistance beneficiaries. They hid in the hall. They were there the whole time, and even I called them a couple of times on the phone and asked what was happening because I live in Mitrovica, but I am a native of Banjska," says Nedeljković.
He goes on to recount that after the shooting, Maksimović asked the commander of the Special Police to go to his aunt in Zvečan. He was allowed to do so, but then he was arrested three kilometers away. "Literally, for nothing, the child got 30 years in prison," claims Nedeljković.
Photos from earlier barricades in the north of Kosovo were found in Maksimović's phone. "If they wanted to, they could have tried him for the barricades, but the child did not participate in the events in Banjska and fifteen people were ready to testify. However, the court did not want to consider those people testifying in his favor," Nedeljkovic points out.
"Even a woman from the village who was next to the policemen when he asked to go home was ready to testify, but the judge didn't want to take that into account," Nedeljkovic claims.
He adds that he hopes that after the appeals he will be cleared of all charges.
A conflict after which nothing is the same
Nedeljković says that Banjska is a dead village after the conflict. "Banjska started to live just a few years before the conflict, the 'Rajska banja' complex came to life, which had a spa center, swimming pools, and a restaurant. However, after those events, Banjska is a dead village. On any given day, at any time, you will not be able to see more than ten people on the streets," says Nedeljković.
Aleksandar Šljuka from the New Social Initiative (NSI) told "Vreme" that Banjska did not have much of an impact on the position of Serbs because Pristina started with various harsh measures even before September 2023. He mentions the decisions on re-registration of vehicles, the takeover of municipalities in the north and the construction of police bases.
"Banjska was a narrative victory for Pristina," Šljuka tells us.
"Then to a certain extent, although there is still no evidence that Serbia is the direct culprit, the ball was moved to Serbia's court. Then, the international community no longer accused Kosovo alone of destabilization, which allowed Pristina to strengthen its actions under the pretext of security and threats from Serbia," explains Šljuka.
Almost all Serbian institutions were closed in Kosovo after Banjska, and Šljuka is of the opinion that this, like the abolition of the dinar, would have happened regardless of the events in Banjska.
Photo: Tanjug/Government of Provisional Institutions of KosovoAljbin Kurti: Accelerated shutdown of Serbian institutions in Kosovo after Banjska
He adds that even before the conflict there was no significant reaction of the international community to the decisions implemented by the Kosovo Government of Aljbin Kurti, apart from the punitive measures introduced by the European Union, which, according to our interlocutor, did not contribute to Kurti "reining in his intentions and targeting the Serbian community".
"Banjska may have sped up some processes a bit. But I don't believe that it contributed to Kurti having a free hand and doing everything he did after that. I think it is again a part of a broader agreement that was started by the Franco-German plan, i.e. the Ohrid Agreement, to gradually abolish Serbian institutions and to gradually reduce Serbian influence in Kosovo," emphasized Šljuka.
Where does Serbia begin?
Nedeljković is of the opinion that this conflict contributed to the integration of the entire north of Kosovo into the Kosovo system. He still does not know much about the background of the conflict in Banjska.
"Before the conflict, we had Serbian institutions in the north of Kosovo and a good part of the north functioned according to the Serbian system. For the Serbs living south of the Ibar, Serbia was in Mitrovica, and now Serbia is for us from the north, but also for them from the south, only where Raška, Kuršumlija are..."
He concludes that they are now in a hopeless situation. They are waiting to see what will happen with education. If the schools are included in the Kosovo system, he says, it will lead to mass emigration of Serbs. "That's all with Banjska accelerated and brought to completion."
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