A court in Kosovo has sentenced two Kosovo Serbs to life imprisonment and another to a 30-year jail term for taking part in what it described as a 'terrorist' attack in September 2023.
The men were found guilty of violating Kosovo's constitutional order and inciting terrorist activities. Prosecutors have charged 45 people in total - but they believe most of them are in Serbia and unlikely to be handed over.
The 'Banjska incident' is a prosaic label for one of the most dramatic, dangerous and deadly days Kosovo has seen since it unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
A police officer and three members of an armed group of Kosovo Serbs died during several hours of shooting in northern Kosovo.
On Friday, the court in Kosovo's capital Pristina sentenced Vladimir Tolić and Blagoj Spasojević to life in prison and Dušan Maksimović to 30 years in prison.
Despite the convictions, many questions remain over what happened in the village of Banjska, which is less than half-an-hour's drive from the crossing point into central Serbia. Kosovo's authorities maintain that Serbia's government in Belgrade was ultimately responsible, though it is still far from clear what the armed group actually hoped to achieve.
This incident has escalated already heightened tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.
