Igor Milosevic, the Serbian diplomat who provided Miladin “Minja” Kovacevic with emergency travel documents to flee the United States in June, will spend at least the next 30 days in jail while the Serbian government investigates his actions.
Kovacevic, a 21-year-old former Binghamton University student and men’s basketball player, fled the country for his native Serbia on June 10, four days after he was released on bail. He had been arrested and charged with second-degree assault, a felony, after the Downtown beating of then-senior Bryan Steinhauer, 22.
Milosevic’s lawyer, Milan Zindovic, said Milosevic denied the charges, stating he did not know Kovacevic was not to leave the country.
“Mr. Milosevic has said that he did not know that Kovacevic’s passport was impounded after the incident,” Zindovic told The Associated Press. “A request for [new] travel documents cannot legally be denied, and Mr. Milosevic said he was only protecting the rights of [a Serbian] citizen.”
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, who has campaigned to have Kovacevic returned to the United States from Serbia, called the arrest a step in the right direction.
“This is a good thing,” Schumer said in a statement. “But the Serbian government should make no mistake about it, we will not rest until Kovacevic is returned to the United States to face the crimes he was charged with.”
Schumer and Sen. Hillary Clinton have both fought for Kovacevic’s return since he fled the country. While Serbian law does not allow its citizens to be extradited, both senators have campaigned to cut aid to the country until the 260-pound, 6-foot-9 basketball player comes back to the United States to face trial.
Milosevic was fired from his position as a Serbian diplomat after the incident and was arrested in Belgrade, Serbia, on Tuesday for questioning. It was later decided that he would be held during the 30-day investigation.
The two other men arrested in connection with the May 4 beating at the Rathskeller Pub on State Street, Sanel Softic of Binghamton and Edin Dzubur of Johnson City, were charged with gang assault in the first degree and assault in the first degree. Both were released on bail in early August on the condition that they would be electronically monitored.
Since fleeing the country, Kovacevic has signed with a basketball team in Serbia.
Steinhauer has only recently emerged from a coma, four months after the incident.
— Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.