Kosovo lawyer Arianit Koci has provided new details about the detention of Kosovo citizen Dugagjin Maxhuni by Serbian authorities while crossing the Serbia-Croatia border, saying he has been accused of alleged war crimes despite never having been a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
Speaking on TV Dukagjini’s FIVE program, Koci said Serbian authorities accuse Maxhuni of allegedly participating in the expulsion of Serbs from the region during the Kosovo war, supposedly as a KLA member.
Koci rejected the allegations, insisting that Maxhuni had never served in the KLA.
“The accusations were the standard ones made by Serbian authorities — war crimes, allegedly that he participated, as a member of the KLA, in the expulsion of Serbs from that region. Dugagjin was never a KLA soldier. In fact, he himself was expelled by Serbian forces to Albania,” Koci said.
Maxhuni, born on May 10, 1979, and originally from Bec in the Gjakova area, was initially stopped for questioning while crossing the Serbia-Croatia border. His family was later informed that he had been transferred to Belgrade, where proceedings against him are continuing.
Koci has criticized Kosovo’s institutions and political leadership for what he described as insufficient attention to cases involving Kosovo citizens detained or arrested by Serbian authorities.
The case comes amid continued tensions between Kosovo and Serbia over the prosecution of alleged wartime crimes and the treatment of citizens traveling between the two countries.
