Elek: The raid was carried out without explanation or notice; in the end, they provided a report stating that they found nothing

Zlatan Elek, the Director of the Clinical Hospital Center Kosovska Mitrovica, stated that Kosovo's antiterrorist units and special ROSU units, accompanied by an EULEX police officer, had conducted a violent raid with long guns in the early morning hours in that healthcare institution and that after the search, they had submitted a report in Albanian stating that they had found nothing.

During a press conference, Elek mentioned that none of the special forces personnel had wanted to inform them about what they had been searching for. He also said that the violent raid, during which the doors to the boiler room and laundry room had been broken and the video surveillance system confiscated, had happened without any prior notification to the staff at Clinical Hospital Center Kosovska Mitrovica.

"Early this morning, around 6 o'clock, we had a violent intrusion into the premises of Clinical Hospital Center Kosovska Mitrovica by the antiterrorist unit, along with long guns and ROSU special forces, with, according to our information, about 15 armored vehicles. None of the management, starting with me, was informed. The doors of the laundry room and the boiler room were forcibly broken," Elek said.

He added that Dr. Dragisa Milovic and himself immediately requested an explanation from EULEX, which, as he said, was a silent observer of the events.

"They directed us to the antiterrorist units in front of the laundry and boiler room. When I asked them what was happening there, some of them started talking in English, some in Albanian, and there were also civilians with long guns and police vests. We waited for their commander's address for 15 minutes," Elek explained.

Elek noted that this was the time when workers were arriving at their jobs, and he pointed out that they were visibly disturbed, as were the students from the Medical School who were practicing at the internal medicine department of that healthcare institution.

All of this was observed from the windows of the patient rooms, as Elek stated, and patients in the coronary care unit, who were in the most critical condition, witnessed this brutal and unannounced action.

"The entire teams of Clinical Hospital Center Kosovska Mitrovica are now focused on calming the patients and working with them," he emphasized.

After 15 minutes, as he mentioned, a commander addressed them in Serbian and said they had a court order for the search.

"When we asked them what they were looking for, he didn't want to answer. He said he wanted to see the room with the video surveillance from the entrance gate. I explained to him that there was no need for a violent intrusion, as it was causing distress among the employees, students who came for practical training, and our patients. We were willing to cooperate fully and offered to open any room in the hospital, but they refused and did not want to discuss it," Elek stressed.

Finally, as he stated, they went to the office of the head of security at Clinical Hospital Center Kosovska Mitrovica and confiscated the video surveillance.

Before they withdrew from the Clinical Hospital Center premises, Elek added, they submitted a report in Albanian without bilingualism, stating that a search had been conducted and nothing was found.

"We don't even know what they were looking for. The worker who signed the report was distressed and sought help from the psychiatric department. At 7:15, when almost all the workers had arrived, they left the Clinical Hospital Center premises without any explanation for why they did this, and I claim it was completely unnecessary," he emphasized.

He pointed out that the intrusion had caused great fear among the population, which saw this institution as one of the most serious in the northern Kosovo territory, employing around 1,600 people.

"In addition to this, we have constant repression by Kurti's regime, where ambulances are stopped and searched. So far, we have counted around 178 stops, during which not a single piece of weapons or anything else was found except for patients being transported to healthcare institutions in central Serbia. They did this without any explanation and without any notice. We were fully willing to cooperate," Elek reiterated.

He also mentioned that he didn't understand why they had sent people with long guns, and a large number of them, to the Clinical Hospital Center, especially with the presence of EULEX units.