MILOJKO ĐORĐEVIĆ TRIAL DELAYED AS PROSECUTION FAILS TO SUBMIT CASE FILES

PRIŠTINA, OCTOBER 23 /SRNA/ — At the request of the defense, the start of the trial of Milojko Đorđević from the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, accused of an alleged war crime in Kosovo and Metohija, was postponed today in the Court of General Jurisdiction of the provisional institutions in Priština because the prosecution failed to submit the case files.

His lawyer, Predrag Miljković, requested the postponement, saying it had become standard practice for the defense to receive case files only after preliminary hearings had been held.

"I insisted today that the hearing be postponed and that all case files be duly provided to us, given the large number of witnesses and victims involved. The defense has the right to review the case files and their statements before responding to the indictment," Miljković stressed.

He added that the last investigative action in the case had been taken on February 3, while Đorđević remained in detention, allegedly because a witness from abroad was still awaited.

"He has spent more than eight months in detention without any basis, and the court's and prosecution's oversight of his detention is highly questionable," Miljković stressed.

He explained that the indictment had been filed close to the statutory maximum period, after almost 17.5 months in detention, while the law allows up to 18 months before an indictment must be filed, RT Balkan reported.

"This is highly problematic and points to a pattern of conduct by the prosecution: it is neither conducting the proceedings urgently nor acting conscientiously, and it does not care whether someone is in detention or whether they will suffer the consequences," Miljković said.

The next hearing is scheduled for November 2.

According to the indictment, filed on October 11, Đorđević allegedly committed a war crime jointly with other members of the Serbian police forces while serving as commander of a reserve police unit in the municipality of Zvečan.

He was arrested on May 15, 2025, in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica.