The trial for the Ibër-Lepenc explosion will begin on December 24th

2025-12-11 16:34:15, Kosova & Bota CNA

The trial of the three defendants in the Iber-Lepenc canal explosion is set to begin on December 24th.

The initial hearing against brothers Dragisa and Jovan Viqentijevic and Igor Dimovic will be held at 09:30 on December 24, the spokesperson for the Basic Court in Pristina, Mirlinda Gashi, told Radio Free Europe.

On December 9, the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office announced the filing of an indictment against three defendants for the explosion that occurred on November 29, 2024 in the village of Varragë.

The prosecution charges the defendants with the criminal offenses of "endangering the constitutional order by destroying or damaging public installations and equipment," "committing a terrorist act," "unauthorized possession of weapons," and "espionage."

The indictment states that the Viqentijevic brothers, together with still unknown persons, "after a prior agreement, placed explosives [approximately 20 kilograms of Trinitrotoluene 'TNT'] inside the canal."

According to the Prosecution, the Viqentijevic brothers had activated the explosive through a bag that they had tied with a rope to a concrete pole, "which as a result severely damaged the concrete structure of the Ibër-Lepenc canal, caused an interruption in the supply of drinking water, and endangered the production of electricity."

According to the indictment, the Ibër-Lepenc enterprise suffered damage of nearly 400 thousand euros.

Jovan Viqentijevic is also accused of espionage. According to the Special Prosecution, until the moment of his arrest he was recruited by the Serbian Military Intelligence Service and held the rank of lieutenant.

The prosecution said that he had assisted this service "by collecting classified information and documents with the aim of using them during his illegal activity in the territory of Kosovo."

In the investigations in this case, Kosovo has cooperated with European and American partners.

In connection with the explosion, authorities had arrested dozens of suspects and seized weapons and explosives.

But, until now, it was known that brothers Dragisa and Jovan Vicentijevic had been taken into custody for this case.

The Ibër-Lepenc Hydro-Economic Enterprise supplies water to several cities in Kosovo and the Kosovo Energy Corporation for cooling its thermal power plants. This enterprise is fully owned by the Government of Kosovo.

Immediately after the explosion, authorities in Kosovo blamed Serbia for being behind the incident, but the accusations were denied by Belgrade.

On December 10, Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, said that intelligence data shows that the three Serbs accused of the Ibër-Lepenc explosion were closely connected to Serbian state structures.

"The investigation of this case is now well underway, with evidence being obtained that the three accused Serbs were at the scene of the incident on the critical night, for which I thank the relevant institutions of the Republic of Kosovo and the FBI from the United States of America for the professional work carried out in this case," Kurti said in a Facebook post.

According to him, the trial in this case "will prove that the defendants were part of illegal structures in Serbia, closely linked to [Serbian President Aleksandar] Vu?i?'s friend, the terrorist Milan Radoi?i?, and other state structures in Serbia that planned and ordered the terrorist attack."

Kurti referred to the former vice-chairman of the Serbian List, the largest Serb party in the country, Milan Radoi?i?, whom Kosovo authorities are seeking with an arrest warrant for various criminal offenses, including a deadly attack against the Kosovo Police in the north of the country in 2023.

Radoicic took responsibility for that attack in which a Kosovar sergeant was killed.

During the ensuing clashes, three more Serbian attackers were killed./ REL