Lawyers for five Serbs: Attempt to impose collective guilt, we fear detention will nevertheless be ordered

Lawyers representing the five Serbs arrested today by the Kosovo Police in the municipalities of Strpce and Gnjilane stated that, during today's detention hearing, they opposed the prosecution's request for pre-trial detention, arguing that the case represents yet another attempt to impose collective guilt. However, they added that they fear detention will nevertheless be ordered.

Attorney Nebojsa Vlajic, who represents Novica Pecinocevic, said that the defense opposed the prosecution's request for detention.

“Today, we opposed the public prosecutor's request to order detention for the five arrested Serbs from Kosovo. In my firm conviction, this is yet another case of an attempt to impose collective guilt, where innocent people are held responsible for something merely because they belong to a certain group or because of their pre-war profession as police officers. That cannot be the case, and I am confident that we will prove this during the proceedings. The problem, however, is that there is a strong likelihood that detention will nevertheless be ordered,” Vlajic said.

Counsel for Stanoje Janicevic, attorney Ljubomir Pantovic, stated that the prosecutor had failed to provide a precise explanation of the reasonable suspicion and individual criminal responsibility serving as grounds for detention.

“What we have been witnessing for years in detention proceedings is happening once again. Although this concerns a very serious criminal offence—a war crime against the civilian population—where the prosecutor is obliged to clearly and specifically substantiate the reasonable suspicion forming the principal basis for detention, we are faced with a situation in which he has, so to speak, lumped everything together. For all five individuals, he has provided nothing specific as to what each of them allegedly did or in respect of whom reasonable suspicion exists. Everything is presented in broad and general terms, in the plural: they came, they entered, they fired shots, and so on. All of this is contrary to the law. Nevertheless, I am not optimistic. I fear that, despite the fact that both the proceedings and today's hearing were conducted in violation of the law, as was the prosecutor's request itself, detention will still be ordered,” Pantovic said.

Attorney Milos Nikolic, representing Stanko Savic from Gnjilane, emphasized that he had submitted to the court a decision confirming that his client had not responded to a mobilization call during the Kosovo conflict and that the case involved mistaken identity.

“I believe there are absolutely no grounds either for detention or for reasonable suspicion against him. In fact, the prosecution's motion, whether intentionally or by mistake, incorrectly identifies him, stating that he worked at the Police Station in Urosevac before the war. The man has been employed by the Serbian Post Office since 1990 and continues to work there today. He was never mobilized. Today, I submitted to the court a decision showing that he failed to respond to a mobilization call and was therefore sentenced in 1999 to 15 days' imprisonment, precisely during the period alleged to be the time when this criminal offence was committed. Like my colleagues, I am not optimistic about the possibility of him being allowed to defend himself while at liberty,” Nikolic said.