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Senior Kosovar Police Officer Still In Serbian Custody

By RFE/RL's Balkan Service April 18, 2024

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said a deputy chief of the Kosovo Police remains in Serbian custody after being detained by Serbian police at the border, a move some Kosovar officials said was retaliation for the country being recommended for membership in the Council of Europe, a top European human rights body.

Four other police officers who were detained together with deputy police commander Dejan Jankovic on April 17 have been released, Kurti said on April 18 at a government meeting in Pristina.

Ten off-duty Kosovar police officers, both ethnic Albanians and Serbs, were detained by Serbian authorities while returning to Kosovo. Five of them were released the same day.

"The deputy police chief continues to be held in a prison in Serbia," Kurti said, referring to Jankovic.

After being detained at the Jarinje border crossing in northern Kosovo, Jankovic -- who comes from the municipality of Strpce -- was sent for interrogation to the southwestern Serbian city of Raska.

Serbia's Interior Ministry confirmed to Serbian news agency Tanjug that the officers were detained on April 17 during border checks, but did not say why Jankovic remained in custody.

The U.S. State Department is aware of the situation and monitoring it closely, a spokesperson told RFE/RL in an e-mail, urging all parties involved to avoid any actions that could jeopardize regional security and stability.

The spokesperson also warned that arbitrary or unduly lengthy detentions, especially if they target Kosovar police officers, "will be seen as escalatory actions detrimental to peace and stability."

As already noted by the European Union, the spokesperson said delays like those that recently took place represent a violation of an agreement on freedom of movement reached as part of the EU-facilitated dialogue on normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo. The agreement provides clear parameters for the entry and exit of Kosovar citizens to and from Serbia, the spokesperson said.

The detentions came after at least six buses from Kosovo were earlier stopped for hours by Serbian police at a border crossing with Croatia and Hungary, according to passengers, before being allowed to continue.

Serbia said the delays were caused by additional security measures at the border, but that Kosovar citizens' movement has not been restricted.

The tightening of border controls by Serbia came shortly after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) recommended on April 16 that Kosovo be invited to become a member of the Council of Europe, a European human rights body.

Kurti was quick to link the Kosovar police officers' detentions with the decision by PACE.

"The mass arrests, detentions, and ill-treatment of [Kosovar] travelers occurred immediately after the favorable vote in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe," Kurti told the government meeting.

Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani said the stopping of buses was a retaliatory measure by Belgrade, and directly accused Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic of ordering the move.

"Serbia is retaliating against Kosovar citizens, one day after PACE's CoE vote, by holding many hostage at border crossings, intimidating, confiscating docs & depriving them of food," Osmani wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding, "One man is responsible for this: Vucic."

Kosovo's Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that Serbia had stopped the buses as a "a sign of retaliation against the PACE's support for Kosovo's membership in the organization."

Kosovo, a mainly ethnic Albanian former province of Serbia, declared independence from Belgrade in 2008 after fighting a guerrilla war in 1998-99 that ended with NATO's bombing of Serbia. Kosovo's independence has been recognized neither by Belgrade nor by its traditional ally, Russia, or China.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/senior-kosovar-police-official- detained-by-serbia-at-border/32910464.html

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.