O'Brien: We are promised that Radicic will face law in Serbia

Radocic has claimed responsibility for the armed attack by a group of Serbs against the Kosovo Police, who killed a police official. During the shootout on September 24, 2023, three Serb attackers were also killed.

The US official during the Dubrovnik forum said he expects Serbia to keep its promise.

“The US and the EU have consistently said that crimes committed in September [in Banjska] must be punished. We wait and believe we have been promised that Mr Radojciq will pass through a full legal process in Serbia. It is good that it seems that it is not active in northern Kosovo, as it has been before, we see that there are positive benefits from this. He has been charged and we expect the process against him to be completed”, O'Brien said.

Serbia accuses Radoichi of buying weapons, ammunition and explosive devices with huge destructive powers from Tuzla to Bosnia and Herzegovina, from January 2023 to 24 September. To him, authorities have forbidden his going to Kosovo.

Authorities in Kosovo assess the attack on Banjska as an act of aggression and have blamed Serbia for having a role in it. Belgrade has denied involvement.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has decided as one of the conditions for engagement in the dialogue with Serbia, as well as the handover of Radojici and his group to the Kosovo judicial authorities. The European Union has said Serbia has not shown itself ready to accept this condition, during the latest round of dialogue held on 26 June.

Speaking to Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, O'Brien said the possibility of using force for resolving issues should be ruled out in the two states.

I think we should also be clear that using force to reach the solution should be excluded. This includes the most sensitive parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and northern Kosovo, and I think that here, relevant state actors have taken strong positions that they do not support the use of force in these areas. But we have to get rid of the issue of violence, state violence. This would enable us to use the tools we need in a way that would be productive”, O'Brien said.

During the Dubrovnik Forum, where Kosovo was represented by Foreign Minister Donika Grovalla, a statement made by Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, who has declared Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev, has shown he is a good, strategic leader and has “involved when it takes”, for the way he has managed to take over the breakaway Nagor Karabac region.

But O'Brien said this is the wrong interpretation by Vuciq, as Aliyev has expressed the goal of taking over territories that are internationally known as part of Azerbaijan.

“No movement in Bosnia, no movement north of Kosovo”, O'Brien said.

Even in the past, American officials have warned against using violence to resolve differences in the Western Balkans region. Meanwhile, officials in Kosovo, including President Vjosa Osmani, and Prime Minister Albin Kurti, have sometimes said Serbia has territorial ambitions against Kosovo. / REL/