At the Basic Court in Pristina, a court session against former Serbian police officers Zoran Kostić and Dragan Milović, accused of war crimes, failed to take place. In today’s session, the prosecution’s witness, Naim Haliti, was scheduled to testify, but the defense of the accused, Zoran Kostić, opposed continuing the witness’s hearing, arguing that they had received the witness’s statement in Serbian only 10 minutes before the session began.
Kostić’s defense attorney, Predrag Milović, stated that they were not ready to continue the session.
“No, we are not ready because we only just received the translated statement of the witness 10 minutes ago. We consider that we need time to review this statement. I regret that we lost 20 days since the last session, but the defense cannot agree to continue under these circumstances,” he said.
The presiding judge, Lutfi Shala, also confirmed that the court had received the witness’s statement translated into Serbian.
“This 10-15 minute delay was precisely due to this statement because, according to the prosecution, the statement was sent by email to the judge. In reality, the statement was not sent to the court via email. We had requested the statement, but we did not have it. Today, the court has obtained the witness’s statement translated into Serbian from the prosecution,” he said.
However, the case prosecutor, Florije Shamolli, requested that the witness proposed by the prosecution be heard today and questioned only by the prosecution.
“To avoid delaying the procedure, it is better that the witness is questioned by the prosecution now, and the defense can question the witness in the next session. The agenda is set only for the morning session anyway,” the prosecutor said.
When asked by the court whether today’s session could continue, Zoran Kostić’s attorney, Predrag Milović, refused.
“No, I don’t know what the prosecutor will ask; we need to review the statement first,” he said.
In the absence of conditions to continue the judicial review, presiding judge Lutfi Shala adjourned today’s session, which will continue on November 24 at 13:15.
“Without intending to deny the defense the right to effective representation, I consider that there are no conditions to continue the judicial review today and give the attorney time to read the statement,” the judge said.
In previous sessions, the testimonies of two prosecution witnesses, Habib Mustafa and Rrahim Tahiri, were heard.
Zoran Kostić and Dragan Milović are accused, in their capacity as members of the Serbian police, together with other police, army, and Serbian paramilitary members, of committing war crimes against the civilian population.
At the initial trial session held in June 2024, both defendants pleaded not guilty.
