Pantovic: Prosecutor overlooked key legal factors in sentencing assessment

Defense attorney Ljubomir Pantovic, representing Blagoje Spasojevic, stated that the prosecutor, in presenting closing arguments in the Banjska case and requesting life imprisonment for the three defendants—Dusan Maksimovic, Vladimir Tolic, and Blagoje Spasojevic—overlooked important factors prescribed by law when determining the appropriate sentence. The defense will present its closing arguments in this case on April 20.

During closing arguments, Prosecutor Naim Abazi and legal representatives of the injured parties requested life imprisonment for the three accused.

Pantovic emphasized that the case has an entirely different dimension, which the defense will address on Monday.

“When the prosecutor reads the indictment in a dramatic manner, without lifting his head from the paper, so to speak, and when all of this is accompanied by footage and photographs from Banjska, it gives the impression that everything he says is true. It is not true. This case, at least with regard to these three defendants, has a completely different dimension, which we will highlight on Monday. I therefore believe that the overall impression will be entirely different after the defense’s closing arguments,” Pantovic stated.

He further noted that, under the Criminal Procedure Code of Kosovo, legal representatives of injured parties are not entitled to address sentencing in their closing arguments.

“The prosecutor has that right, and he proposed what he proposed; however, he has completely overlooked certain important elements prescribed by law in the determination of the sentence. We will address this in more detail on Monday,” Pantovic added.

Attorney Milos Delevic stated that, even two and a half years after the events in Banjska, it remains unclear what specific role his client Vladimir Tolic allegedly played.

“Today we heard the closing arguments of the special prosecutor and the representatives of the injured parties. However, even after two and a half years since the events in Banjska, we still do not know what specific role Vladimir Tolic had. We only heard today that a life sentence is being requested. But a life sentence without concrete evidence of what Vladimir Tolic did and what role he played on that day, I believe, will not be accepted by the court,” Delevic said.

The defense is scheduled to present its closing arguments on April 20.

Maksimovic, Tolic, and Spasojevic are charged with attacking the constitutional order and security of Kosovo, as well as terrorism. They were arrested immediately after the events in Banjska in 2023 and have remained in custody since then.

They are part of the indictment filed by the Special Prosecution of Kosovo on September 11, 2024, against a total of 45 individuals in the Banjska case.

The trial of the defendants began on October 9, 2024, but was restarted on January 16 of this year due to changes in the trial panel.