Kosovo to start trial for Banjska attack by Serb group: Why it matters

The indictment charges 45 suspects with ‘terrorism’ in connection with their alleged goal of annexing northern Kosovo to Serbia.

A year after an attack by a Serbian armed group in northern Kosovo’s Banjska killed a police officer, the trial is expected to begin on Wednesday at the Pristina Basic Court.

In all, 45 suspects have been indicted for the attack in September 2023, which Kosovo Serb businessman and politician Milan Radoicic later said he led and organised after he was identified in drone footage by Kosovo security officials.

The attack aggravated tensions between Kosovo and Serbia, and experts fear the trial could be complicated by the difficult nature of the relationship between the two.

Here’s what happened in Banjska and why the trial matters:

A group of Serbs, armed and masked, killed Kosovo police Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku and wounded two others when they ambushed a Kosovar police patrol in the village of Banjska near the Serbia-Kosovo border on September 24, 2023.