The Ministry of Internal Affairs has strongly condemned Serbia’s unprecedented act of detaining hundreds of citizens and demands the immediate release of detained citizens and police officials, reports Reporteri.net.
In the reaction to the media, the Ministry of Internal Affairs says that after yesterday’s victory of the Republic of Kosovo in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where the Report recommending Kosovo’s membership in this organization was approved by a majority of votes, Serbia has activated its revenge methods by mistreating today our citizens who were traveling through its territory.
“From the early morning, buses and vehicles that were transporting our citizens from the west to Kosovo or vice versa were targeted, stopping them, confiscating their personal documents and interviewing them without any prior justification. Our citizens have been locked up in the offices of the Serbian authorities for hours and have been interviewed by various people about their participation or eventual connections with the Kosovo Liberation Army or the war in Kosovo,” the reaction says.
This act of Serbia prohibiting movement and mistreating our citizens for over 20 hours, says the Ministry of Internal Affairs, regardless of age and gender, violates every human norm and above all is a flagrant violation of the Agreement on freedom of movement between Kosovo and Serbia.
“Since this morning, the Deputy Director of the Kosovo Police from the Serbian community, Dejan Jankovic, is being held in detention without any explanation,” says the reaction.
“According to the information we have, Deputy Director Jankovic has been sent to Raška and knowing this repeated practice of Serbia towards citizens and police officials, he is interviewed by various state actors of Serbia”, it is said further.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs says that the relevant institutions are in the process of providing accurate information to clarify the situation, but from what we have so far, 10 members of the Kosovo Police (Albanians and Serbs) have been detained at the border crossings. Merdar, Jarinje, Dheu i Bardhë and on the border between Croatia and Serbia. 5 of them have been released while 5 are still in custody, including Deputy Director Jankovic.
“The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, as well as the relevant institutions, are closely monitoring the information received and the same is being shared with international partners. We appeal to the authorities of Serbia for the immediate release of all citizens and members of the Kosovo Police detained without any justification and as a sign of revenge for the Republic of Kosovo. Meanwhile, we ask the entire international factor to strongly condemn this behavior of Serbia towards the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo. Such acts have been done repeatedly by this state, for which we reiterate that in the prisons of Serbia there are already many citizens who are held unjustly for the same reasons against our country. Considering the security situation and the constant threatening language of Serbia, we call on all our citizens to avoid traveling through Serbia”, it is said further.
