Filipovic: Young men arrested near Visoki Decani did not incite hatred, detention decision tomorrow

The three young men who were arrested near the Visoki Decani monastery on Sunday for the inscription "Kosovo is Serbia" on their license plates did not incite hatred and intolerance, which is what the prosecution is charging them with, said their lawyer Jovana Filipovic, adding that a detention decision is expected tomorrow.

The three young men, Rajko Krivokapic (34), Marinko Jovanovic (24) and Dragutin Lalatovic (24), who were arrested on Sunday after the celebration of the monastery's slava in Visoki Decani, have Montenegrin citizenship and are all originally from Niksic.

"Initially, they were ordered to be detained by the police. They are currently in the police station in Pec, we visited them today. After that, we spoke with the acting prosecutor of the Basic Prosecutor's Office in Pec. A request for detention was submitted to the Basic Court in Pec, branch in Decani. According to the information we received today from the acting prosecutor, the detention hearing will be held tomorrow, at 10 a.m., at the Decani branch of the court,” Filipovic told Kosovo Online.

She explained that the young men are charged with committing the criminal offense of inciting hatred and intolerance.

“What is really worrying is that it seems that this offense is exclusively intended for members of the Serbian nationality, that is, for non-Albanians, because the only cases we have had the opportunity to see so far, and there have been dozens of them, were cases against members of the Serbian community, who allegedly commit this offense against members of the Albanian population,” Filipovic pointed out.

She is convinced that in this case there is no question of a criminal offense that the young men are charged with.

“They had a sticker on the frames of their license plates that said ‘Kosovo is Serbia’. However, the same sticker was covered with another tape and could not be seen. Their car was parked in the parking lot in front of the Visoki Decani monastery and it is not known how the sticker came to be peeled off. So it remains for the competent authorities to determine how it happened and who is really to blame for the tape that was used to cover the inscription - being peeled off," Filipovic said.