Voice of America: Why have some of the defendants in the "Brezovica" case been in custody for 19 months?

The former mayors of Strpce, Bratislav Nikolic, and six others out of a total of 12 defendants in the “Brezovica” case, have been in custody for 19 months. Defense lawyers claim that it is a violation of the Constitution and laws of Kosovo, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights, and the Constitutional Court of Kosovo confirmed this for the two defendants, according to Voice of America.

The former mayor of Strpce was arrested in December 2021 for allegedly abusing his official position, accepting bribes, and exerting influence in connection with the issuance of building permits in Brezovica, and he is also charged with illegal possession of weapons. At that time, 11 more people were arrested in connection with the "Brezovica" case. However, Nikolic and six other arrested persons are still in custody, while the others are released pending trial.

Of the seven who are still in custody, six are Serbs, and one of the main stated reasons why they have been in custody for 19 months was that they also had Serbian citizenship.

Bratislav Nikolic's lawyers told the Voice of America that it was discrimination on an ethnic basis and that the length of detention for this type of offense was "unknown in court practice".

"Well, I asked the court to cite just one example where someone accused of this nature of criminal offenses has remained in custody for this long - I have not received a response to this appeal order. The court only says that there is a risk of flight, because Mr. Nikolic also has Serbian citizenship, and the Republic of Serbia does not cooperate with the institutions of Kosovo, so if he escapes to Serbia, he will be beyond the reach of the judiciary," Artan Cerkini, a lawyer of Bratislav Nikolic, told the Voice of America.

Dragan Veljkovic, the second lawyer of the former mayor of Strpce, says that the defense believes that such behavior constitutes discrimination and that discrimination is contrary to regulations, both internal and international.

"In this sense, I would like to emphasize that this also violates Article 3 of the Constitution of Kosovo, which provides that all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, have equal rights before all laws of Kosovo," Veljkovic said.

Nikolic's lawyers filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court of Kosovo.

"We have already addressed the Constitutional Court of Kosovo because we think that in the case of my client, Mr. Nikolic, the right to access the court has been violated because we have not received answers to our complaints. I always claim that the court has frozen Mr. Nikolic's funds, which are a sufficient guarantee that he will not run away, and I have never received a response from all judicial instances in Kosovo to this allegation of mine," Cerkini stated.

While the lawyers of Bratislav Nikolic are waiting for the answer of the Constitutional Court, this court has made two separate decisions in the last three months - that the custody of the two accused Serbs in the "Brezovica" case, Jadran Kostic and Sasa Spasic, was extended illegally, unconstitutionally and contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.

"So, the two of them were accused of criminal offenses for which a prison sentence of up to five years was foreseen, taking into account the procedural laws that provide that before the indictment is filed, detention can be ordered for a maximum of four months until the indictment is filed, their legal rights were violated, by the fact that they were in detention and are still there today, longer than those four months, that is, until the indictment was filed, that is, a full 12 months. Unfortunately, that verdict of the Constitutional Court does not directly affect their current status, so they are still in custody. Longer than 19 months," lawyer Veljkovic said.

In the case of Kostic and Spasic, the Constitutional Court of Kosovo stated that they had the right to seek compensation from public authorities based on valid legal provisions, due to the illegal extension of detention.

In the case of "Brezovica", the defendants include two construction inspectors of different nationalities who are charged with the same criminal acts. However, one of them is still in custody, and the other is released pending trial.

"The construction inspector of Albanian nationality has been free for more than six months, his detention has been lifted, he is working again at the same workplace, while the construction inspector of Serbian nationality is still in custody - more than 19 months," lawyer Veljkovic said.

Six Serbs arrested in the case of "Brezovica" are currently in three detention centers in Kosovo, The former mayor of Strpce is in Podujevo, four others are in North Mitrovica, and one is in Gjilan.

The families of some of the accused with whom Voice of America spoke are worried and expect only justice.

"Sentence people, sentence everyone as deserved and that's it, if he deserved it. However, my husband was only detained for four months, not more than four months (according to the decision of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo). He should be released or sentenced," Danica Kostic said, wife of Jadran Kostic, who is accused of helping the former mayor of Strpce, Bratislav Nikolic, in accepting bribes.

Jelena Milosavljevic, the wife of the arrested Sasa Milosavljevic, the former director of the Cadastre Department in the municipality of Strpce, who is accused of "demanding and receiving money from construction companies and other natural persons in exchange for providing the necessary documentation" says that Sasa has the right to defend herself, if they think they have something, they should try him, and not keep him in custody for 19 months.

"People get out of custody in less than a month with much more serious crimes. We even offered bail. I am ready to pledge everything just so that Sasa can be home, whether he is released pending trial or from house arrest, it is irrelevant," she said.

Draginja Nikolcevic, the sister of the arrested Dimitrije Racicevic, the former director of the Urban Planning Department in the Municipality of Strpce, who was accused of dereliction of duty, accepting bribes, exceeding his authority in order to gain benefits for other persons, and issuing building permits in places where construction is not allowed, says that Dimitrije has been alone there for nineteen months or 560 days or more than 13 thousand hours awaiting that trial.

"I sometimes have the impression that we are here on planet Earth, and the judiciary is up there on Mars, and you know, when paperwork and evidence travel, months must pass, of course, the ship leaves from here and goes to Mars, for example, and not to Urosevac. So there is a way for them to even be under house arrest, I'm sure, according to the law, we will mortgage our houses, we will mortgage our lives, I don't know what they need more, for him to sit at home," she adds.

The Voice of America asked the prosecutor in the case of Brezovica, Rasim Maloku, "if he plans to request less restrictive measures from detention in the near future, given that the investigation has been completed, and if he is familiar with any case in the last 20 years in the judicial practice in Kosovo, that for this type of criminal offense, someone was in custody for 19 months". However, we did not receive an answer.

The European Union Mission for the Rule of Law in Kosovo (EULEX) stated in its report on the monitoring of Kosovo's judiciary a year and a half ago that "too long a period of detention without a final verdict is one of the major problems in the functioning of judicial institutions in Kosovo." According to this report, some persons are in detention for up to 12 years.

Gzim Shala from the Kosovo Institute for Justice told the Voice of America that the issue of detention was "a prominent issue in numerous court proceedings" in Kosovo.

"The first problematic aspect is that all the circumstances for determining or extending custody are not adequately considered, so there would be a possibility to adequately implement other measures to ensure the presence of the accused in the criminal proceedings. Another problematic aspect is the duration of court proceedings, which is then reflected in the aspect of detention. This is because, if we had one trial within a realistic period, then the custody aspect would not be problematic. It should be emphasized the fact that due to the inadequate implementation of detention, Kosovo paid millions of euros as compensation for persons who were arrested or kept in detention, and who were later released by a final court decision," Shala said.

In December of last year, charges were brought against 12 persons arrested in the "Brezovica" case for alleged numerous criminal acts connected with the construction of hundreds of illegally built buildings in Brezovica at the foot of Sar Mountains.

Abuse of official position, accepting bribes, trading in influence, illegal possession of weapons, and failure to perform official duties, are just some of the criminal offenses charged against them.

However, the indictment has not become final yet, as the defense filed an appeal and it is expected that the Court of Appeals will confirm or reject it soon.