Request filed following court decision to extend custody for Kosovo Serb -lawyer

PRISTINA - Following a decision by a Pristina basic court to once again extend custody for an arrested Kosovo Serb, his lawyer said on Friday he had filed a request for protection of legality with the supreme court of the so-called Kosovo due to gross breaches of the law during the proceedings.

In a statement to Tanjug, Dejan Vasic said the health condition of his client, Sladjan Trajkovic, had greatly deteriorated.

"The special prosecutor's office has conducted an investigation without permitting the defence to attend the investigative proceedings, which is a gross breach of the law. Therefore, in the case of my client, the breach of the law has been going on since the very beginning. His condition is very poor so, according to practices applied so far to criminal offences Trajkovic has been charged with, I have requested a softening of measures from the supreme court and also filed a request for protection of legality with the same court," Vasic said.

Trajkovic was arrested in mid-December last year on charges of alleged war crimes after he left the so-called Kosovo Police alongside all other Serb police officers in the north of Kosovo-Metohija.

Following the arrest, Trajkovic's wife told Tanjug he had passed all security checks before joining the police force.

Repeated demands from Trajkovic's family and friends for him to be released before a trial and hospitalised in Kosovska Mitrovica for adequate medical treatment have been ignored.