Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said on Wednesday in Pristina that those ruling in Serbia are using the methods of Russian President Vladimir Putin in actions at the beginning of the new year, during which two Kosovars were arrested, and the leader of the Serbian opposition party, Nikola Sandulovic, was beaten and arrested.
At the session of the Kosovo Government, Kurti pointed out that the introduction of visa-free regime for the citizens of Kosovo should be a reason for joy, but despite the progressive and positive changes, this year Kosovo inherits an “old neighbor that is getting worse”.
“Last week, two citizens of Kosovo were stopped and arrested at the border with Serbia. This is not the first time, but a deliberate malicious behavior by Serbia that is in violation of international conventions on human rights,” Kurti said.
According to him, Serbia still holds two more Kosovars in custody, on suspicion of having committed crimes during the war in Kosovo, Petri Dulai and Nezir Mehmetaj, but they never received an answer to the request for their extradition to Kosovo.
“Serbia is not a danger only for the Balkans, but also for its citizens. This is the case with the leader of the Serbian opposition, Nikola Sandulovic. Apart from beating him, the Serbian state also accused him of inciting hatred after he bowed before the grave of seven-year-old Blerina Jashari, who was killed by Serbian forces. Undemocratic ways and behavior reflect what is happening in Serbia. Serbia continues the path with Putin’s methods, from intimidation to inhumane torture of political opponents,” Kurti said.
Last week, Sandulovic visited the “Adem Jashari” complex in Prekaz, where he laid flowers on the grave of Blerina Jashari, one of the fifty family members of Adem Jashari, one of the founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army, who were killed by members of the Serbian army in March 1996.
The first reactions about Sandulovic‘s arrest and brutal beating arrived directly from Kosovo, after which the world and European media reported on it, while in Serbia there is a kind of media silence about the event.
The prosecutor’s office in Nis detained Sandulovic on “suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of inciting national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance.”
At yesterday‘s session, Kurti accused Serbia, for the umpteenth time, of not honoring the agreement within the dialogue on the normalization of relations that Serbia and Kosovo reached in February, in Brussels, instead opting for the attack on Kosovo that took place last September in the village of Banjska in the north of Kosovo.
“This agreement is guided by the protected principles of international conventions, especially those on respect for independence and territorial integrity, the right to self-determination and human rights, and the prohibition of discrimination. Article 1 of the agreement states that the parties will develop good neighborly relations, but Serbia, however, is committed to attack on Kosovo, as it did on September 24th, and then protects the perpetrators of this crime, as is the case with Radoicic,” Kurti said.
A paramilitary group of Serbs attacked the Kosovo police in the north of Kosovo at the end of September, and one policeman and three attackers were killed in the clash.
Responsibility for the attack was taken by Milan Radoicic, one of the leaders of the strongest party of Kosovo Serbs and the sister party of SNS – Serbian List, which is supported by official Belgrade. Despite the pressure from Brussels and Washington to clear things up, the indictment against Radoicic has not yet been filed.
