Kosovo Revokes Arrest Warrant for Powerful Serb Businessman

Milan Radoicic, vice-president of the Srpska Lista party. Photo courtesy of N1.

"The Special Prosecution requested the withdrawal of the warrant and the court, acting upon the request, has lifted it," Kurtaj, the presiding judge in the Ivanovic murder case, told BIRN.

The prosecution declined to comment, saying that "this is an internal issue".

The indictment for the murder of Ivanovic, filed in December 2019, said that Radoicic and another prominent Kosovo Serb, Zvonko Veselinovic, were leaders of the criminal group responsible for the killing, and accused several policemen of aiding the crime.

Radoicic, who is widely seen as the real power-holder in Serb-majority northern Kosovo, became the vice-president of Srpska Lista, the main Kosovo Serb political party which is backed by Belgrade, in July 2018.

In November 2018, Kosovo police special forces tried to arrest Radoicic, but did not find him at home in Mitrovica. Instead, they said they found 75 grammes of cocaine.

Radoicic, who fled to Serbia, has denied any wrongdoing.

"They came to my apartment where I live with my wife and little children, with an army of people armed to the teeth, with only one aim - to kill me," Radoicic said after police raided his home.

Officials from Serbia's ruling Progressive Party, which supports Srpska Lista in Kosovo, have defended Radoicic from the accusations.

"Milan Radoicic is not a flower, but he did not in any way participate in the liquidation of the leader of the Freedom, Democracy, Justice citizens' initiative, Oliver Ivanovic," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in July 2019.

Vucic also said that Radoicic had passed a polygraph test.

Ivanovic, the leader of the Freedom, Democracy, Justice party,...