Ivan Todosijevic acquitted of all charges

President of the interim municipality of Zvecan and former minister in the Kosovo Government, Ivan Todosijevic, has been acquitted of all charges by the decision of the Supreme Court in Pristina, his lawyer Nebojsa Vlajic confirmed for Kosovo Online.

As Vlajic stated, the decision is final and there is no right to appeal.

"The Supreme Court has made a decision and acquitted Ivan Todosijevic of all charges, this decision is final, there is no right to appeal anymore. He is a free man," Vlajic said.

As he added, it has finally been proven what has been claimed from the very beginning, which is that everyone has the right to freedom of speech.

"The court has finally recognized what we have been claiming from the start, that what Todosijevic was accused of is not a criminal offense but falls within the realm of freedom of speech, opinion, and expression, and that we have the right to have an opinion about past events, and no one has the right to judge whether our opinion is true, accurate, or not," Vlajic added.

Ivan Todosijevic was initially sentenced to two years in prison by the first-instance court in Pristina at the end of 2019, due to a statement he made during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the start of the NATO bombing in Zvecan, where he claimed that the Racak case was fabricated and used as a pretext for the bombing.

The first-instance decision was later confirmed by the Appeals Court in Pristina. Todosijevic's defense then filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, and the court panel decided to return the case for a retrial.

In the retrial, the panel of the Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Todosijevic to one year in prison for his statement about Racak, which the court deemed as incitement to hatred, discord, and intolerance.