Belosevic Brothers From Crkolez Held in Custody for 30 Days

A pretrial judge of the Basic Court in Pristina ordered brothers Zikica and Grujica Belosevic, from the village of Crkolez near Istok, held in custody for up to 30 days on Friday, October 30. The request came from the Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office, and the ruling followed a day after an arrest carried out jointly by Kosovo police and that office.

The brothers are charged with a war crime from 1999. Kosovo institutions pursue the case as the “Padaliste massacre,” in which 19 ethnic Albanian civilians were killed. The presumption of innocence applies until a final verdict, and the defense rejects any involvement of the brothers in the crime.

Why did the court order custody?

The court cites a real risk that the suspects, if free, would obstruct the proceedings, evade prosecution and become unavailable to the judiciary. It derives that risk partly from the fact that both hold Serbian citizenship. The court’s statement, carried by Tanjug, reads:

“This assessment is based on the fact that the defendants hold citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, therefore there is a concrete risk that the defendants will flee in order to avoid criminal prosecution.”

What does the defense say?

Zikica Belosevic is represented by lawyer Milos Delevic, and Grujica by lawyer Dejan Vasic. Both opposed custody at the hearing. After the session, Delevic told RTS that the defense had proposed an alternative:

“We proposed an alternative measure: house arrest or bail with a guarantee that the suspects will defend themselves from freedom, that is, that they will respond to court summonses.”

The same lawyer says that in the 27 years since the war the brothers lived in their village, tended livestock and worked the land, and never ran away. He summed up his position with the line: “There is no basis for the measure of judicial custody.” He cannot offer more detail, he says: “I cannot go into more detail about this case because the investigation is secret.”

Vasic claims that his client Grujica has nothing to do with the event he is accused of. Ahead of the court’s decision he said he hoped for a milder measure: “I still have hope for that.”

Who else was detained, and how did Serbian institutions react?

Obrad Tijanic was also taken in during the same operation. After questioning at a police station in Pristina, he was released in the evening.

After the arrests, Srpska Lista said that Pristina keeps arresting Serbs for war crimes without evidence of the guilt of those detained. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija said that Pristina is carrying out terror against Serbs in Metohija and, as the statement puts it, wants not an easing of tensions but intimidation.

Crkolez and a case from a neighboring village

Crkolez is one of three linked Serb villages in the municipalities of Istok and Srbica where Serbs stayed on after 1999. In the neighboring village of Suvo Grlo, Kosovo authorities arrested four Serbs this year on suspicion of war crimes. They have been in custody since March 2026.