Defense of Kostic and Milovic: We did everything to prove their innocence, we expect an acquittal

The defense attorneys for Zoran Kostic and Dragan Milovic, Predrag Miljkovic and Milos Delevic, stated that in their closing arguments they addressed all points of the indictment in order to prove the defendants’ innocence and that they expect an acquittal.

In his closing statement, attorney Predrag Miljkovic analyzed all three counts of the indictment brought against Kostic.

“Under the first count of the indictment, he is allegedly accused of participating in the massacre of the Ujkani family in the village of Reznik. That allegation was confirmed by only one witness who is not an eyewitness. He has some indirect knowledge and only sporadically knows Zoran. In fact, he has known him only since 2023. At the end of the trial, this witness stated that he did not see Zoran kill anyone and did not see him give orders to anyone. He cannot be considered an eyewitness and cannot represent relevant evidence to prove that Zoran committed or was part of any group that carried out the massacre,” Miljkovic said.

Regarding the second count, he stated that as many as 15 witnesses who were questioned did not mention Kostic.

“The second count of the indictment concerns the expulsion of Albanian civilians at the cemetery in Vucitrn. None of the 10–15 witnesses who were questioned mentioned Zoran Kostic, nor did they say that they saw him there that day or that he participated in such events. As for the killing of Shefki Dalku, members of the Dalku family who were questioned here clearly and precisely stated that Zoran Kostic is not the police officer Kostic who killed their brother or nephew. They stated very clearly that the man accused here is not that person. According to them, it was a young police officer at the time, about 25–30 years old, who committed the act,” Miljkovic added.

With regard to the third count, Miljkovic emphasized that the injured party had changed his testimony.

“Concerning the beating of Vesel Latifii, we submitted material evidence to the court showing where Zoran was on May 24, and both pieces of evidence indicate that he was in Kursumlija and Prokuplje that day, not in Vucitrn as the witness claims. On the other hand, we demonstrated contradictory statements that the witness gave over the years. In fact, in 2000 the witness himself voluntarily gave a statement before the municipal court in Vucitrn in which he said that he had been beaten by a certain paramilitary member named Krstic, that the incident occurred on May 19, and that the injuries were caused by kicks and blows to various parts of the head and ribs. After 24 years, he claims it happened on May 24 and that he was beaten by police officer Kostic, in this case Zoran Kostic; that the injuries were caused by a blunt object; that he does not know where he sustained the injuries; and that he lost consciousness after being struck from behind. Therefore, about five elements in his statements differ completely, and on that basis we believe he is not a credible witness. His statement is not sufficient evidence to confirm reasonable suspicion that the act alleged by the prosecution in the indictment actually occurred,” the attorney said.

He stated that he expects an acquittal.

“As Zoran Kostic’s defense counsel, I can say that we did everything in our power to prove his innocence, which in fact is not our job—our job is not to prove innocence; it is the prosecution’s job to prove guilt. But you know yourselves how complex these cases are, how demanding they are, and how many witnesses have testified. I hope for an acquittal and that Zoran and I will soon be at his home in Priluzje,” Miljkovic said.

Attorney Milos Delevic said that the vast majority of prosecution witnesses defended Dragan Milovic as if they were his own brothers.

“I expect an acquittal because the majority of witnesses of the Special Prosecution defended Dragan Milovic wholeheartedly. As I said today in my closing statement, they defended him as if he were their own brother. Dragan Milovic moved freely in Vucitrn after the war and even had friends there from the village of Kolo, so he never had problems with Albanians. As I said at the end of my closing statement—if he is not acquitted, then who will be?” Delevic asked.