Lawyers for Milenkovic and Vlajic: Verdict rendered without evidence, cannot be sustained in law

Defence counsel for Milun Milenkovic and Aleksandar Vlajic, who were sentenced to multi-year prison terms for the “commission of a terrorist offence,” today presented their appeals before the Court of Appeals in Pristina against the first-instance judgment, arguing that it is marred by substantial violations of criminal procedure and was rendered without evidence, relying solely on the assumption of a single witness, and must therefore be amended or quashed.

Counsel for Milun Milenkovic, attorney Miodrag Brkljac, stated that all participants in the proceedings, including the prosecutor, were dissatisfied with the first-instance judgment.

“All parties were dissatisfied with that judgment—both we as defence counsel and the prosecutor as a representative of the Kosovo prosecutorial authority. She initially appealed on the grounds of substantial procedural violations, incorrect findings of fact, violations of the law, and the sentencing decision, yet ultimately elaborated only on the sentencing decision, which raises the question as to what exactly her appeal concerned,” Brkljac noted.

Brkljac added that the defence teams for the convicted persons had filed appeals against the judgment, maintaining that it lacks any legal foundation and, as such, cannot be sustained in law.

“Today, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeals reviewed the appeal; more precisely, the reporting judge in the case presented a summary of the matter, after which we, as defence counsel, were given the opportunity to present our arguments as set out in our appeals. We made use of that right and briefly outlined our position. It now remains for us to wait for a certain period and hope for the best,” Brkljac explained.

He emphasized that he and his colleagues consider the first-instance judgment to be replete with substantial violations of the provisions of criminal procedure.

“Substantial violations of criminal procedure mean that a judgment, if such violations exist, cannot be sustained in law. It must either be amended or quashed. Unfortunately, given past developments in other cases, we can be neither optimistic nor pessimistic. I believe, and my colleague fully supports me in this, that this judgment must be overturned; it cannot stand in law, and we can only hope that such an outcome will be reached in this case as well,” Brkljac said.

Counsel for Aleksandar Vlajic, attorney Milos Delevic, concurred with Brkljac, adding that the judgment was rendered without a single piece of evidence, solely on the basis of the assumption of one witness.

“There have been many unjust and unlawful judgments of the Special Court in Pristina, but this one unquestionably ranks first—against Lunet and Aleksandar Vlajic. I do not merely believe—the Court of Appeals must quash or amend this judgment, because it was rendered without any evidence, based only on the assumption of a single witness,” Delevic asserted.

Momir Vakic was acquitted of the charges in the first-instance judgment, and his counsel, attorney Dejan A. Vasic, today simply confirmed his agreement with that decision.

“My task today was easier, given that my client, Momir Vakic from Mitrovica, was acquitted in these proceedings. My role today was merely to support the first-instance judgment and to request that the appellate court uphold it. In light of the evidence presented in relation to Momir Vakic, I have no doubt that the outcome could be any different,” Vasic stated.

The Basic Court in Pristina found Milun Milenkovic and Aleksandar Vlajic guilty on 28 July 2025 of the “commission of a terrorist offence” and sentenced them at first instance to five years’ imprisonment each.

Dejan Pantic was found guilty of the criminal offence of “hooliganism” and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, while Momir Vakic was acquitted of all charges.

According to the indictment, Milenkovic, Pantic, Vakic and Vlajic, acting as co-perpetrators together with other unidentified individuals, carried out a terrorist attack on the premises of the Municipal Election Commission on 6 December 2022, when two hand grenades and two stun grenades were thrown during protests by Serbs.

As stated in the indictment, this act endangered human lives.