Radojevic: Municipal leadership facing pressure from the central level, I received a court summons

The Mayor of North Mitrovica, Milan Radojevic, spoke at today’s press conference about the pressures the municipal leadership has faced since assuming office, as well as a court summons he received over the installation of a banner for Orthodox Christmas Eve (Badnji dan).

“Yesterday I received a court summons to appear before the court due to the installation of a banner for Badnji dan. As you may recall, on Christmas Eve, in my capacity as mayor, I made the decision to place a banner bearing the peaceful message ‘Peace of God, Christ is Born.’ That day we encountered a major problem with the Kosovo Police, who did not allow the banner to be installed and attempted in every possible way to prevent it. They told me, as mayor, that I needed permission from Pristina in order to put up that banner. In the end, you saw the footage and the outcome of what happened that day—they first confiscated the banner. A criminal complaint was filed against me at the time, and later, as you saw, the banner was eventually installed. Because of that banner, I received a court summons yesterday, which I will of course respond to as a responsible citizen and as the mayor of the municipality I lead,” he stated.

According to Radojevic, the pressures on the municipal leadership are coming from the central level.
“What we are determined about is that the municipal leadership will continue to work in the absolute interest of all citizens of our municipality, making decisions for all residents. The citizens gave us a mandate in the elections; they demanded change, and we are obliged to deliver that change. Cooperation with the central level is extremely poor—if we can even say that it exists at all. Let me give you one example: upon taking office, we did not find the documentation necessary for the functioning of the municipality. We sent a formal request to the Ministry of Local Government Administration to provide us with all documentation from the period December 2022 to December 2025. To this day, we have not even received a reply informing us whether we will obtain that documentation. This is just one example,” the mayor said.
He emphasized that this illustrates the nature of cooperation with the central authorities, noting that the new leadership will remain in office for the next four years and that some form of cooperation in the citizens’ interest must exist.
“What is absurd is that ten days earlier, a banner stood in the same location during the election campaign, and there were no problems. But when a banner with a peaceful, Christian message was installed—intended to extend holiday greetings to our citizens for Christmas—instead of spending the day with my family, I spent it with representatives of the Kosovo Police. The specific legal provision I allegedly violated was cited, but to be honest, I am not a lawyer and cannot interpret it myself. I will examine it with my attorney and, of course, respond to the court summons. What is disappointing is that the police are interfering even in such matters. That day I said that if, as mayor, I made a decision—as I had done previously, including when another banner stood at that location ten days earlier—I am prepared to bear responsibility if I have violated any legal provision. However, we received no explanation from the Kosovo Police as to which law had been breached, other than that these were orders from Pristina,” he added.
The only response they received, he said, was that the banner could not be displayed and had to be removed because of orders from Pristina.
“As a result, I received a criminal complaint. We will see exactly which legal provision is at issue and what specific criminal offense is being alleged. What is certain, however, is that this represents a form of pressure on the municipal leadership, with the police seeking to interfere entirely in the work of the municipality, which is unacceptable. The municipality has its competencies delegated from the central level, and the police have their own competencies. I believe, as do the majority of citizens of this city, that the Kosovo Police have more important matters to attend to than monitoring how banners are installed and what is written on them,” Radojevic concluded.
It should be recalled that on Christmas Eve in North Mitrovica, members of the Kosovo Police confiscated a banner reading “Peace of God, Christ is Born,” which representatives of the Serb List, based on a decision by Mayor Milan Radojevic, had attempted to install in the city center ahead of Christmas.
After more than an hour of discussions, during which police officers stated that they had orders not to allow the banner to be installed, the banner was confiscated and taken to the police station. Radojevic was asked to give a statement and was subsequently served with a complaint for failure to comply with a police officer’s order.
The outcome of the incident followed later that evening—the Kosovo Police returned the banner the same day, after which it was installed in the town square, bringing several hours of tension to an end.