Kosovo: Officer Korab Pepaj Gets 3 Years Again in Bistrica Shooting Retrial

The Basic Court in Mitrovica on Friday, 13 November, sentenced Korab Pepaj, a Kosovo police officer at the time of the incident, to three years in prison for the attempted murder of Milan Jovanović, a Kosovo Serb from Zvečan, N1 and Tanjug reported. Time Pepaj has already spent in detention will be counted towards the sentence. The verdict came in a retrial and repeats the length of the sentence handed down in the first trial.

The shooting at the Bistrica bridge

Jovanović was shot in the chest and wounded in April 2023 at a police checkpoint near the bridge over the Bistrica river, on the road between Leposavić and Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. The case drew strong reactions in Belgrade and among Kosovo Serbs at a time of high tension in the north.

Why the case was retried

In the first trial, the court found Pepaj guilty of attempted murder but acquitted him of tampering with evidence, while three other police officers were acquitted of failing to report a crime, according to Tanjug's report carried by 24sedam. The Court of Appeals in Pristina later annulled that verdict and ordered a retrial because of contradictions in the forensic medical expert testimony.

According to N1, which cited Radio KIM, Jovanović's lawyer Miloš Delević had said earlier that a forensic expert's findings in the retrial removed any doubt that Pepaj fired towards Jovanović and caused life-threatening injuries.

What is still open

The reports did not include comment from Pepaj, his defence or the prosecution, and did not say whether either side intends to appeal. Verdicts of the Basic Court can be challenged before the Court of Appeals.