Serbia announces arrest of Kosovo Serb politician Radoicic on criminal complaint

By Talha Ozturk

SARAJEVO, Bosnia Herzegovina (AA) – Serbian authorities announced on Tuesday the arrest of Kosovo Serb politician Milan Radoicic, who led the armed Serbian group that clashed with Kosovar police on Sept. 24, causing extreme tensions on the border between the two countries.

Radoicic, vice president of the Serbian List, a minority political party in Kosovo’s northern town of Zvecan, has been arrested for up to 48 hours and police officers from the Criminal Police Directorate searched his apartment and other premises, the Serbian Interior Ministry said in a statement, without specifying their locations.

Radoicic was later brought before the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in the capital Belgrade with a criminal complaint.

Clashes broke out in Banjska after a group of armed Serbs blocked a bridge. A shootout erupted when the group opened fire on police.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti claimed that the armed Serbian group was led by Radoicic, who later accepted full responsibility for the events in the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo, which caused enormous tensions between the two neighboring countries.

"I am informing the public that on September 24, together with my compatriots, I came to the north of Kosovo in the region of Banjska," Radoicic said in a statement, explaining his return to Kosovo to "encourage the people in their resistance to the regime of Albin Kurti."

Radoicic claimed that he received no assistance from the Belgrade authorities and that he did not inform them of his intentions because they had already disagreed on certain issues.