Lazovic was remanded in custody for one month; Lawyer: Decision to initiate investigation was made yesterday

Srdjan Lazovic (48) from Leposavic, who was arrested on suspicion of committing the war crime against civilian population, the Basic Court in Pristina has ordered custody for a period of 30 days, confirmed his lawyer Predrag Miljkovic.

Miljkovic, speaking outside the Basic Court in Pristina after the custody hearing, stated that Lazovic is suspected of alleged war crimes in the vicinity of Malisevo and some places near Klina.

"We objected today to this request by the prosecution for detention. We believe it is unfounded. The decision to initiate the investigation was made yesterday, which means the investigation was officially initiated yesterday, and Srdjan was arrested the day before yesterday. Witnesses were interviewed in March and April. We objected to this because we do not know which investigation these witnesses were interviewed for. It is impossible for witnesses and evidence from one investigation to be used in this manner in another investigation. There are many uncertainties," said Miljkovic.

He also emphasized that the Prosecution suspects Srdjan Lazovic to be the man in the photograph circulating in the media for several days, which he said is not true.

"Today, we presented enough evidence to prove that the person in the photograph is not Srdjan, and throughout this investigation, I hope to convince both the court and the prosecution. Today, we presented numerous pieces of evidence showing that Srdjan was neither a member of the police during the war, nor was he in the vicinity of Malisevo or Klina during the war. Nevertheless, the court decided to remand him in custody for 30 days, which has become a standard procedure against all accused in such cases," said Miljkovic.

Lazovic was arrested on June 27 in Kratina, near Leposavic, as he was returning from Raska with his family. Additionally, his house was searched.

His wife, Marija Lazovic, stated after his arrest that her husband is not depicted in the photographs published by certain Albanian-language media outlets, emphasizing that there is evidence he was never in Djakovica (Gjakova). Despite this, he was arrested.