Attack in the village of Banjska led to a clash with police that left one police officer and three of the gunmen dead.

A court in Kosovo has convicted three ethnic Serbs on “terrorism” charges over their role in a deadly secession attempt near the country’s northern border in 2023.

The Basic Court in Pristina sentenced Blagoje Spasojevic and Vladimir Tolic to life in prison and Dusan Maksimovic to a 30-year jail term on Friday over the attack in the village of Banjska, which led to a clash with police that left one police officer and three of the gunmen dead.

“Through this well‑organised plan, and through the use of violence with heavy weaponry, they attempted to cut the northern part of Kosovo, namely the municipalities inhabited predominantly by Serbs, and to attach this part of the territory to Serbia,” said Judge Ngadhnjim Arrni.

Spasojevic, one of the three defendants, told the court that he was not a “terrorist”. “This (incident) was my biggest mistake in life … but I did not kill anyone,” he said during the trial.

Kosovo Serb businessman and politician Milan Radoicic, who lives in Serbia and has ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and President Aleksandar Vucic, publicly admitted he led and organised the attack after he was identified in drone footage by Kosovo security officials.

He is one of 45 people initially charged in connection with the armed incident, which is the worst since the Balkan country declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Friday’s trial was held for just three people who were in custody.

Kosovo has accused Serbia of being behind the attack. Serbia, which lost control over Kosovo after NATO bombing in 1999 and does not recognise Pristina institutions, has denied the allegations, saying the men acted on their own.

Some 50,000 Serbs who live in northern Kosovo also do not recognise Pristina’s institutions and see Belgrade as their capital. They have often clashed with Kosovo police and international peacekeepers.

More than 10,000 people were killed during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo that erupted when ethnic Albanian separatists launched a rebellion against Serbia’s rule.