The Serb former mayor of the Zubin Potok municipality, Slavisa Ristic, was questioned by EU rule-of-law mission prosecutors over the murder of a Kosovo police officer in 2011.

Ristic was questioned by EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX prosecutors at the basic court in Mitrovica on Monday over suspected involvement in an attack in July 2011 in Zubin Potok, in which a member of Kosovo’s police special unit was killed.

“Ristic appeared voluntarily before the prosecutors,” EULEX spokesperson Dragana Nikolic-Solomon told BIRN.

The ex-mayor was recently elected as the vice-president of the Democratic Party of Serbia, which used to be headed by Vojislav Kostunica.

The policeman, Enver Zymberi, was killed on July 26, 2011, a day after the Kosovo government imposed trade sanctions on products made in Serbia.

Tensions between Kosovo and Serbia had mounted in July 2011 when Kosovo police tried to seize control of the two border crossings in the Serb-run north of Kosovo at Jarinje and Brnjak. The decision caused anger in the local community.

In July this year, Kosovo police tried to serve a summons on Ristic and the current mayor of Zubin Potok, Stevan Vulovic at their homes, but they were not in.

Vulovic is wanted for allegedly aiding the escape of a detainee from the police station in Zubin Potok, Slobodan Sovrlic.

Sovrlic is accused of attacking EULEX personnel and property and endangering United Nations and associated personnel. He was arrested in March 2014, but a day later, a crowd of more than 100 Serbs forced his release from the police station.

After being recaptured, he is now on trial alongside seven others.