Vlajic: Witness tried to exaggerate the damage to the Ibar-Lepenac canal to make the offense appear more serious

Defense attorney Nebojša Vlajic, representing Jovan Vicentijevic, said after today's hearing in the case concerning the attack on the Ibar-Lepenac canal that witness Ernes Krçelji, a director at the company, had sought to exaggerate the extent of the damage to the canal in order to make the alleged offense appear more serious.

During today's trial of Dragiša and Jovan Vicentijevic and Igor Dimovic, who are charged in connection with the attack on the Ibar-Lepenac canal, the court heard testimony from Krçelji and Fatmir Ademi, a DNA analysis expert. Krçelji stated that the damage to the Ibar-Lepenac canal had been assessed at €375,000.

Vlajic, however, argued that although the canal had been disabled, the damage could not possibly amount to such a figure.

"Today's hearing was largely devoted to examining the witness, the director of the Ibar-Lepenac company, who tried with all his might to convince us that the damage to the sabotaged canal amounted to as much as €375,000 for just a few meters of concrete. The canal was indeed put out of operation, but the damage simply cannot be that high. And it is not difficult to understand why he was trying to inflate the damage—to make the offense itself appear more serious," Vlajic said.

He also stressed that the court should consider only actual damage, not hypothetical damage that might have occurred.

"This is not the first case of colorful falsehoods packaged into an indictment that initially appears to be solid and monolithic, but as the trial progresses, we see that this is not really the case. There is no such damage. Anything could have happened, but that level of damage did not occur. We are discussing actual damage. Even if someone is obliged to compensate for the damage, they are required to compensate only for the actual damage, not for what might have happened," Vlajic said.

The defense will continue tomorrow with the cross-examination of the second witness, Fatmir Ademi, a biologist and DNA analysis expert at the Kosovo Agency of Forensic Science.

Dragiša and Jovan Vicentijevic are charged with the criminal offense of "endangering the constitutional order by destroying or damaging public facilities and equipment" under Article 122, in conjunction with the criminal offense of "committing a terrorist act." Jovan Vicentijevic also faces an additional charge of espionage.

Igor Dimovic has been charged with illegal possession of weapons and is defending himself while at liberty, whereas Jovan and Dragiša Vicentijevic remain in pre-trial detention.

At the previous hearing, all three defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges contained in the indictment.

The indictment against Dragiša and Jovan Vicentijevic, as well as Igor Dimovic, was filed on December 9 of last year.

On November 29, 2024, an explosion occurred at the Ibar-Lepenac canal in the village of Varage near Zubin Potok. The canal carries drinking water from Lake Gazivode to both South and North Mitrovica and also supplies water used to cool the Kosovo A and Kosovo B thermal power plants.