Arsic: Owners of Gazivode homes have a glimmer of hope, but not enough for peace of mind

Attorney Predrag Arsic, who represents several families who own properties on the shore of Lake Gazivode, said that his legal team will continue to use all available legal remedies, but stressed that, in his view, the Gazivode case is not merely a legal issue.

The deadline set by the provisional institutions in Pristina for Serbs to vacate their homes on the shore of Lake Gazivode expired yesterday, and Arsic told RTS that the situation on the ground is currently calm and that there are no official demolition orders.

“Things are calm in Gazivode at the moment. They have not received any orders. There are no excavators there at the moment, but that does not mean there will not be any,” Arsic said.
According to him, the homeowners have a “glimmer of hope,” but not enough reason to sleep peacefully, given past practice, which, he says, shows that demolition orders are not delivered in advance.

“Our clients have a glimmer of hope, but not enough for peace of mind, because past practice shows that they do not deliver the orders, but instead arrive in the morning with heavy machinery and give people a short deadline to vacate,” Arsic said.

As he explained, the deadline so far has been just two hours.

“That is two hours, which is enough to take some basic belongings and then they start the demolition,” Arsic added.

He pointed out that two families had asked the court in Pristina for an interim measure to stop the demolitions, but their request was rejected.

The main civil proceedings, however, are continuing.

“When we filed the lawsuit as a legal team, we also requested an interim measure in order to preserve the factual situation on the ground, that is, the properties. However, although that did not happen, the main issue will still be considered,” Arsic said.

In addition to the civil proceedings before the Basic Court in Mitrovica, the legal team has initiated other proceedings.

“In addition to the civil proceedings we are conducting before the Basic Court in Mitrovica, we filed a criminal complaint against Faruk Mujka, director of ‘Ibar Lepenac,’ as well as against the individuals who participated in the demolitions,” Arsic said.

He added that they are also pursuing administrative proceedings against a decision by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, and that complaints have been filed with the Police Inspectorate, the General Inspectorate, and the Independent Oversight Board for the Civil Service.

Arsic said that representatives of “Ibar Lepenac” denied at the August 12 hearing that they had participated in the demolition of properties in Gazivode or requested their demolition. However, he pointed to an earlier statement by the company's director, who, he says, stated that he had participated in the demolitions and initiated the process of removing weekend houses and homes.

“They said they had not participated in the demolition and had not requested it. However, that does not change the fact that their own director went public and said that he was participating in the demolition and had initiated the process of demolishing weekend houses and homes on the shore of Lake Gazivode,” the attorney explained.

He claims that the demolitions began without an official order, while the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning issued the orders only two days later.

“Ibar Lepenac skipped several steps in its involvement in this entire process and began the demolitions themselves, proceeding to implement its objectives arbitrarily and without any order whatsoever,” Arsic said.

According to him, the orders issued subsequently concerned the removal of properties on the grounds that they had allegedly been built in a protected zone. Arsic believes this was an attempt to justify demolitions that had already been carried out.

The demolition of homes and other properties owned by Serbs at Lake Gazivode began less than a month ago. The central authorities in Pristina have issued orders for another 11 properties on the lake shore to be vacated and cleared, claiming that they were built illegally.

So far, 17 properties have been demolished on the shore of Lake Gazivode, including the “Jezero” motel.