Five Serbian-owned holiday homes at Gazivode demolished with Kosovo Police assistance, EULEX also present

The company Ibar-Lepenac and Kosovo's Ministry of Spatial Planning today began demolishing five holiday homes owned by Serbs at Gazivode Lake, with the assistance of the Kosovo Police.

Owners of the holiday homes encountered at the site said the properties are the subject of ongoing court proceedings, as they have filed lawsuits against the Ibar-Lepenac company. They also stated that the disputed buildings were undergoing the legalization process.

According to the owners, they had not been notified that the demolition would begin today, and many of their personal belongings remained inside the cottages.

In addition to a large number of police vehicles, members of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo were present to monitor the operation. On the road leading to Cecevo Bay, two vehicles belonging to the Hungarian contingent of the Kosovo Force were also seen.

Located near the demolished holiday homes is the recently opened facility of Kosovo's Ministry of Internal Affairs, specifically the Emergency Management Agency.

Deputy Director of the Kosovo Police for the North Region, Veton Elshani, confirmed to Kosovo Online that the police were assisting the Ibar-Lepenac company in Cecevo Bay at Gazivode Lake.

In April this year, the Ibar-Lepenac company submitted a total of five requests for the "vacation of property at Gazivode Lake," the company's director, Faruk Mujka, said at the time, explaining that the requests concerned holiday homes built without permits on land owned by Ibar-Lepenac.

He added that the company was continuing to review the archives of the Kosovo Cadastral Agency in order to establish an accurate record of ownership.

In April, the owners of the disputed properties at Gazivode Lake received notices from the Ibar-Lepenac company requesting that they vacate the property within 15 days.

The company demanded that the owners immediately leave what it described as unlawfully occupied property and remove all items placed there, noting that the land must be restored to its original condition.