The attack in the village of Banjska led to a clash with police in which a police officer and three gunmen were killed.
Published on 24 April 2026
A court in Kosovo has convicted three ethnic Serbs on “terrorism” charges over their role in a deadly secession attempt near the country’s northern border in 2023.
The Basic Court in Pristina on Friday sentenced Blagoje Spasojevic and Vladimir Tolic to life in prison and Dusan Maksimovic to 30 years in prison for the attack in the village of Banjska, which led to a clash with police that left one police officer and three gunmen dead.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“Through this well-organized plan, and through the use of violence with heavy weapons, they attempted to cut off the northern part of Kosovo, namely the municipalities inhabited predominantly by Serbs, and attempted to annex this part of the territory to Serbia,” said Judge Ngadhanzim Arani.
Spasojević, one of three defendants, told the court that he was not a “terrorist”. During the trial he said, “It (the incident) was the biggest mistake of my life… but I didn’t kill anyone.”
Kosovar Serb businessman and politician Milan Radošić, who lives in Serbia and has ties to Serbia’s ruling Populist Party and President Aleksandar Vucic, publicly admitted that he had led and organized the attack after being identified in drone footage by Kosovo security officials.
He is one of 45 people initially charged in connection with the armed incident, the worst since the Balkan country declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Friday’s trial was held only for the three people who were in custody.
Kosovo has accused Serbia of being behind the attack. Serbia, which lost control of Kosovo after NATO bombing in 1999 and does not recognize Pristina institutions, has denied the allegations and said the people acted on their own.
The approximately 50,000 Serbs living in northern Kosovo also do not recognize Pristina’s institutions and view Belgrade as their capital. They have frequently clashed with Kosovo police and international peacekeepers.
More than 10,000 people were killed during the 1998–99 war in Kosovo, which erupted when ethnic Albanian separatists launched a rebellion against Serbian rule.
