conflict
Kosovo: Criminal authorities want pre-trial detention for three Serbian citizens
Kosovar police officers secure the road after heavy fighting in the Serb-populated north. photo
© Visar Kryeziu/AP/dpa
Recently there were serious clashes between Serbian attackers and the Kosovo police. A trio involved is now in custody.
Two days after heavy fighting between Serbian paramilitaries and Kosovo police, the public prosecutor’s office in Pristina requests remand for three Serbian citizens.
The trio is said to have been directly involved in the fighting on Sunday, wrote the news portal “gazetaexpress.com”, citing the criminal authorities. The three men were arrested after hours of fighting in the town of Banjska near Mitrovica.
Kosovo Serb politician involved?
A Kosovar police officer and four attackers were killed in the fighting. Some of the paramilitaries are believed to have retreated across the border into neighboring Serbia. Interior Minister Xheval Svecla said that documents belonging to Kosovo Serb politician Milan Radoicic, including weapons licenses issued in Serbia, were found in an abandoned jeep belonging to the attackers.
Radoicic is vice-chairman of the Serbian List, a Kosovo Serb party that has 10 of the 120 seats in Kosovo’s parliament. However, the politician mostly stays in Belgrade, where he enjoys the favor of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. He is wanted in Kosovo for a suspected fraud offense.
Vucic condemned the killing of the Kosovo police officer, but at the same time showed understanding for the attackers’ actions. They were “provoked” to their actions because the Kosovo police were “terrorizing” the Serbs in Kosovo, he claimed.
Kosovo, which is now almost exclusively inhabited by Albanians, declared itself independent in 2008. More than 100 countries, including Germany, recognize independence. Serbia, Russia, China and five EU member states do not do this. Belgrade demands the return of its former province. EU-mediated negotiations to normalize the relationship have so far been unsuccessful.