The court session in the “Banjska” case is ongoing, with the accused Blagoje Spasojević, Vladimir Tolić, and Dušan Maksimović present before the court.
The first to testify was witness Halim Behramaj, who stated that he works as an investigative police officer in the traffic unit in Mitrovica.
“Around 2:00 AM, through the radio communication, a border unit reported that a barricade had been set up in Banjska. Two units immediately headed in that direction, and two minutes later, my colleague Avni Shala and I followed them in case they needed assistance. About 500–600 meters before reaching the village of Banjska, we met with them and continued toward Banjska. There were three police vehicles… once we arrived in the village, we were about 30 meters from the barricade (we were in the third vehicle). We got out of the vehicle, and the officers in the first car approached the barricade. At that moment, officer Elez Peci warned us it could be an ambush, and we began to spread out,” Behramaj stated.
He added that the area around the barricade was fully lit, while the rest of the village was in complete darkness.
“Just as we started to spread out, we heard a loud explosion. The officers closest to the barricade took cover nearby, while Avni Shala and I took cover behind our vehicle. At the same time, there was gunfire from various weapons. It became clear to us that we were not dealing with a simple criminal group. From their position and the weapons they were using, it was evident they were an organized group. I noticed that Sergeant Afrim Bunjaku was lying in the road—we were 30 meters away and it was impossible to approach him. Avni Shala returned fire, as he had an automatic weapon,” Behramaj continued.
He further stated that an armored vehicle from the rapid response unit arrived from the village of Izvor.
According to him, there was heavy gunfire, and the position from which the attackers were firing made it clear that this was a highly organized group.
