The Government of Kosovo assesses that the Serbian List is "the work of Belgrade and now its instrument", and that it has "monopolized the political representation of the Kosovo Serbs and has stifled pluralist democracy within the Serbian minority".

"She does not represent the Serbs of Kosovo," Përparim Kryeziu, spokesman for the Government of Kosovo, told Radio Free Europe.

Radio Free Europe has asked the Government of Kosovo for its position after a series of almost identical statements by the mayors of ten municipalities with a Serbian majority in Kosovo, who come from the ranks of the Serbian List, and who came to the defense of Milan Radoicić, the vice-president of of this list, who is wanted by the Kosovar authorities and is on the American blacklist due to his involvement in international organized crime.

"With their actions, they are proving that they are not free either.

They are under the complete control of Belgrade and recently they have been put at the forefront of the protection of criminal gangs in the north of the country, as their leaders are on the blacklist of the US Treasury and wanted by our prosecution institutions", Kryeziu added. .

Lista Serbe, the leading party of Kosovo Serbs, which has the support of the official Belgrade, in addition to absolute power at the local level, also participates in the work of the Government of Kosovo and has all ten seats in the Assembly, reserved for the Serbian community.

Lista Serbe is not in the governing coalition, but is part of the Government of Albin Kurti, because the Constitution of Kosovo guarantees the participation of minorities in the Government.

The leader of that party, Goran Rakić, heads the Ministry for Communities and Returns.

He has not responded to Radio Free Europe's calls regarding the Government's statement.

How did the 'chain reaction' in defense of Radoicic come about?

Officials of the Serbian List reacted after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić declared on August 11 that the Kosovo authorities were "preparing the liquidation" of Serbs in northern Kosovo and called on them not to attempt to do so.

The President of Serbia also said that he knows what the plans of Kosovo's security services are and that is why he is talking about liquidation.

"I'm just asking them not to plan to do it," he said.

Immediately after these statements, the chairman of the Serbian List, Goran Rakic, reacted with claims that the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xelal Sveçla, "without any evidence attacked the vice-chairman of the Serbian List, Milan Radoicic, the state of Serbia and the president Aleksandar Vucic ".

The day before (August 10), in an interview for N1 from Belgrade, Sveçla had said that the north of Kosovo was 'El Dorado' for criminals in the previous 20 years.

He also spoke about how Radoicic enjoys the direct support of the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and that Kosovo has evidence that he entered Kosovo illegally and that he was one of the organizers of the last barricades, which were erected on July 31.

The fact that Radoicic was present at the barricades was confirmed by Lista Srpska itself on August 3.

The Swedish Ministry also stated in an interview for Radio Free Europe in mid-July that Milan Radoicic is one of the leaders of the criminal structures behind the attacks on Plicia in the north of Kosovo.

Due to a "technical error", identical notifications

After Vucic's address on August 11, came the announcements of the mayors of municipalities with a Serbian majority.

One after the other.

Among the first to arrive was the statement of the mayor of Ranillug, Katarina Ristiq-Iliq, in which, among other things, it is stated that the statements against Radoicic "are not an attack on him as an individual, but an attack on anyone who is not ready to be a servant humble from Pristina".

The mayor of Graçanica, Lilana Shubariq, literally had the same reaction as Ristiq-Iliq.

After a controversy started in the Serbian media in Kosovo about "which mayoress copied the announcement", Ristiq-Iliq sent the new communiqué, with the reasoning that "there was a technical error".

In her "new statement" it is said that the statements of the Kosovo authorities are "an attack on every Serb, regardless of whether he lives in the south or the north", and that they encourage inter-ethnic intolerance.

Other announcements by the mayors of municipalities with a Serbian majority had similar content.

Their focus has been that an "anti-Serbian" policy is being conducted towards the Serbs, and that "Milan Radoiçiqi is not a criminal, but a man who politically fights for the interests of his people".

Miftaraj: Support for Radoicic, a bad message for those who do not respect the rule of law

The executive director of the Kosovo Institute for Justice, Ehat Miftaraj, estimates that the Government of Kosovo should directly call and warn the Serbian List that it does not dare to offer support to Milan Radoicic or any other person wanted by the security institutions.

He estimates that the support of Radoicic from the Serbian List is to the detriment of the Serbian community living in Kosovo and to the benefit of those in the north who refuse to respect the rule of law and the Government of Kosovo itself.

He emphasizes that Radoiçiqi and other criminals move freely from Serbia to Kosovo because they have the support of official Belgrade and adds that for this the reaction of the international community is necessary.

"The justice institutions of Kosovo and the Special Prosecutor's Office have not shown full functionality in the past when it comes to Radoicić.

That's why we are in this situation, he somehow moves freely from Serbia to Kosovo, tries to belittle the police and judicial institutions.

Now it is the turn of the Kosovo Police, the intelligence services and other sources to find a way to arrest Radoicić when he re-enters the north of Kosovo, to bring him to justice", says Miftaraj.

However, he emphasizes that it is not easy to arrest Radoiçiqi as long as he has the support of the Serbian List and official Belgrade.

Janjic: Russia benefits from Radoicic's actions

Dushan Janjic from the Belgrade Forum for Ethnic Relations believes that the announcements of the Serbian List were written in the Kosovo Office of the Government of Serbia and that this is a method reminiscent of "Stalinism and post-war policies".

"How did Radoiçiqi suddenly become the only symbol of the political unity of the Serbs in Kosovo?

This is a problem for Vucic, it is a problem for Rakic, for Lista Srpska, for the Serbian community and beyond.

This is no unity now.

Someone ordered, wrote to Petkovic [Director of the Office], and these announcements show us that the level of political development of the Serbs in the north of Kosovo is shameful", says Janjiq.

However, he notes that Radoiçiqi should not be seen only as a criminal, because this would be "a dangerous political game".

He points out that Radoiçiqi is presented in Serbian and Russian pro-government media as someone who "started the war for the liberation of Serbs in the north of Kosovo".

"The beneficiary at first glance, from Radoicic's action, is Russia, in this case that Russian war machine and its propaganda.

I don't know what is the interest of the Serbian people", says Janjiq.

How do citizens from the Serbian community see Milan Radoicic?

Residents of North Mitrovica, one of the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north, mostly stand in defense of Milan Radoicic, although at least those who want to talk about him do so on condition of anonymity.

"Definitely, Radoiçiqi is neither a criminal, nor a thief, nor a million percent anything.

So, these leaders of ours stood in defense of their homes and their children, and their neighbors and nothing else," says one of them.

Another says that Radoiçiqi is "one of us in the north" and that the Serbian List should protect him.

"I think that what he does and what he represents this nation, protects the nation is right.

The people simply have faith in that man, he stood by the people and that's it."

In the largest municipality with a Serbian majority south of the Ibri, Graçanica near Pristina, citizens shake their heads only at the mention of Milan Radoicic and do not want to comment on the efforts of their political representatives to "protect" him from the Kosovo authorities.

Those who agree to speak, like their compatriots in the north of Kosovo, ask that their identity not be revealed.

So one of them says that everyone turns to Milan Radoicic with a request to help them and that he thinks that he is a man who actually asks about everything.

"He is defended by those whom he has helped, he has not helped me at all.

We called him once and he said 'we'll see'.

He never did anything for me, while I only asked him for a job", says this citizen of Graçanica.

However, at the end of the conversation he adds:

"We are still Serbs, let's... we have a little left, I don't want to attack, but I say what's on my mind".

Why is the defense of Milan Radoicic controversial?

There is an active arrest warrant for Milan Radoicić in Kosovo due to his involvement in the "Brezovica" case, in which he is suspected of "intimidating witnesses during the criminal proceedings".

In that case, the persons are accused of misuse of the official position regarding the granting of construction permits in the skiing center in Brezovica.

He has so far managed to avoid arrest twice in Kosovo, in March of this year by escaping from the Bërnjak border point in the north of Kosovo and in November of 2018, when the Kosovo Police carried out an action in the north, with the aim the arrest of the suspects for the murder of the Serbian opposition politician, Oliver Ivanovic.

Several people were arrested then, but Milan Radoicic was not in his apartment during this police action.

The Kosovo Prosecutor's Office links Milan Radoicic to the murder of Ivanovic, but no indictment has been brought directly against him, because the laws of Kosovo prohibit it for persons who are not available to the prosecuting authorities.

Meanwhile, only a few months after the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, Milan Radoicic was elected vice-president of the Serbian List.

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, has on several occasions spoken of Radoicic as one of those who protect Serbia in Kosovo.

Also, in December 2021, the US Ministry of Finance added Milan Radoicic, Zvonko Veselinovic, his brother Zharko and ten other people related to them to the list of sanctions.

Zvonko Veselinović is considered as the organizer of the barricades in the north of Kosovo and also as the "protector" of the Serbs.

In the explanation of the American ministry, it is said that Milan Radoicic was the deputy of Zvonko Veselinovic and the leader of an organized criminal group, when Veselinovic was withdrawn for a short time.

Milan Radoicic is known to the judicial authorities in Serbia since 2011.

He and Zvonko Veselinović were accused of embezzling 32 trucks of the company Hippo Alpe Adria Leasing.

In Serbia, both were legally acquitted of the charges in 2016. /rel/