In a long-awaited ruling that amplifies already tense relations between Serbia and Kosovo, a Pristina court has handed down heavy sentences to three Kosovo Serbs convicted of participating in the September 2023 armed assault on Kosovo security forces in the northern village of Banjska — an incident that stands as one of the deadliest episodes in Kosovo’s post-independence history.
Two of the defendants, Vladimir Tolić and Blagoj Spasojević, received life imprisonment, while a third, Dušan Maksimović, was sentenced to 30 years behind bars. All three were found guilty of breaching Kosovo’s constitutional order and orchestrating terrorist activities. In total, prosecutors have leveled charges against 45 individuals connected to the attack, but authorities acknowledge the vast majority of the accused are hiding in Serbia, which has refused to extradite them to Kosovo.
The Banjska attack, which unfolded on the morning of September 24, began when Kosovo police responded to a report of a freight truck blocking a local bridge. As officers arrived, a group of roughly 30 armed assailants opened fire with automatic weapons and grenades, killing Kosovo police Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku and wounding two other officers. After the initial gun battle, the surviving attackers retreated to a nearby 14th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery, forcing their way inside, barricading the entrances, and trapping a group of Serbian pilgrims from Novi Sad inside with them.
A day-long standoff followed, leaving three members of the armed group dead. By the time Kosovo special forces secured control of the monastery in the late afternoon, all remaining attackers had escaped despite the site being fully surrounded. The group’s self-proclaimed leader, Milan Radoičić — a prominent Kosovo Serb politician — resurfaced days later in Serbia, where he publicly admitted to organizing all logistical preparations for the assault. While Serbian authorities questioned Radoičić, he has not been charged with any crime in Serbia and remains free, though an Interpol arrest warrant restricts his ability to travel internationally.
Kosovo’s leadership has long argued that the attack had implicit backing from the Serbian government in Belgrade, pointing to Radoičić’s close political ties: he previously served as deputy leader of the Serbian List, the main Kosovo Serb political party that maintains deep links to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s ruling Progressive Party. Radoičić has denied any claims that Serbian government officials knew of his plans, but Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has repeatedly described the attack as part of a wider Serbian plot to seize control of majority-Serb northern Kosovo.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and relations between the two entities have remained strained ever since the Banjska incident, hitting near-breaking point. Multiple efforts by the European Union to restart mediated normalization talks between Belgrade and Pristina have collapsed, and Friday’s convictions are not expected to repair the fractured diplomatic relationship.
In a statement following the verdicts, Kosovo’s acting President Albulena Haxhiu framed the ruling as a critical milestone for accountability, saying it “proves that the attack on the Kosovo police, on the constitutional order and on the security of our country will not remain unpunished.” Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla added that the next step is holding Serbia accountable for what Kosovo claims is Belgrade’s political, financial, and logistical support for the attack. Even with the convictions in hand, however, key questions remain unresolved about the full scope of the attack, the ultimate goals of the armed group, and how the escaped assailants slipped past a full police cordon around the monastery.
