Kosovo Serb Dejan Pantic to be released pending trial

Photo: Private archive

Police officer Dejan Pantic, who was arrested on December 10 at the Jarinje administrative crossing and is still in custody (in Kosovo and Metohija), will be released pending the outcome of his trial, it has been confirmed for Telegraf.rs.

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Blic is reporting that Pantic will first be sent to the hospital, where his general condition will be monitored, given that he has spent almost three weeks in Jarinje, at a Kosovo police base.

The release of Dejan Pantic was the first demand of the Serbs from the north of Kosovo and Metohija, who have put up barricades in several places as a sign of protest, where they remain to this day.

The request for Pantic's release was also made publicly by President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, who is constantly in touch with Pantic's wife, Suzana Pantic.

As Telegraf.rs has learned, this news comes after Vucic's talks with EU and US representatives that lasted throughout the night.

This victory of Serbia could raise hopes that this part of the Kosovo crisis, which has lasted for almost 20 days, is slowly coming to an end, considering that the release of the arrested policemen is one of the demands of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.

Dejan Pantic was a member of the Kosovo police stationed in Kosovska Mitrovica, which he left in early November when Serbs withdrew from Pristina's institutions.

Pantic was then arrested on December 10 at the administrative crossing Jarinje, as he and his wife were returning from Raska (in central Serbia), and Pristina accuses him of organizing a "terrorist attack" against the premises of an election commision in the north of Kosovo.

Pantic's lawyer and family have been stressing that Pantic was held without necessary medication for days, that he has a heart condition, and that they were not allowed to hear from him.

(Telegraf.rs)