Simic: Raskovic not the only victim of brutality; seven others were beaten

Representatives of the Serb List addressed the public today following yesterday's incident, with Serb List President Zlatan Elek stating that Nenad Raskovic from the village of Dren, who suffered brutal violence and abuse at the hands of Kosovo Police officers, had sustained serious injuries and was currently being transported to the Emergency Center of the Clinical Center of Serbia.

According to Elek, the incident began at around 3 p.m. yesterday, when Kosovo Police officers entered the home of Nenad Raskovic, who lives in the village of Dren with his wife and two children. He said that the officers beat Raskovic all over his body and demanded that he hand over a weapon, which he did not have.

"At around 3 p.m., a police patrol came to Nenad's house, where they brutally beat him with a wooden object and their fists on the head, chest, and abdomen, and grabbed him around the neck, demanding to know about a weapon he allegedly possessed. They gave him time to tell them when they returned for a second time at around 5 p.m. They then came back, took him out of the house, led him into the woods, handcuffed him, threw him to the ground, cocked a pistol and held it against his head to force him to admit whether he had a rifle. One of the Kosovo Police officers then cut off a piece of water hose and beat him with full force across the back and abdomen. They then tied him to a tree and put a cloth in his mouth so that he could not call for help. After 15 minutes, they put him in a jeep, drove him to the main road and released him from the vehicle, threatening that they would return the next day to beat him again over the same matter, even though he had said he was not guilty because he did not have a rifle. When he returned home, he experienced chills, shivering, severe pain in the left side of his chest, difficulty breathing, and difficulty moving. A friend took him to the Health Center at around 8 p.m., where diagnostic tests were performed and he was found to have contusions to the head and chest, hematomas, a fracture of the ninth rib, elevated blood pressure, and psychological trauma," Elek said.

He added that Raskovic had told him that his wife was Albanian and that he had been threatened that he would lose her and that she would be expelled from Kosovo.

Serb List Presidency member Igor Simic said that Nenad Raskovic was not the only person to have suffered brutality. He said that other incidents had not been reported because no one had been held accountable for crimes against Serbs.

"Nenad Raskovic is a Serbian hero who endured all of this—something many of us would not have been able to endure—and after all that torture, he decided to speak about it. According to information available to the Serb List, and I say this based on information obtained by Mayor Mr. Perovic, over the past 15 days or so Mr. Raskovic has not been the only person to suffer injuries of this kind. What is particularly painful is that no one has been held accountable, simply because people are afraid. I want to address all citizens and those who have a mandate so that they understand: when they ask us whether we have footage—no, we do not. People are taken into the woods and beaten there. They do not bring cameras. We do not even know where they take people; we go from police stations to courts trying to find out... We notify all representatives of the international community the very second we learn that something has happened. I call on everyone who has experienced violence to speak out. Let them say what happened to them. We have a list of people who were beaten. In some cases, after our legal team and Mayor Perovic went to visit them, they begged them in tears not to disclose that they had been beaten. They will ask us why they did not report it. Because to this day no one has been punished for many crimes against Serbs," Simic said.

He added that, under the Kosovo Criminal Code, the incident constituted torture and abuse in the exercise of official duties.

"This involves serious bodily injury because the man has fractures, as well as minor bodily injuries because he has hematomas. This was an assault aimed at coercing a confession. Every arrested person has the right to be informed of the reason for their arrest, the right to a lawyer, the right to an interpreter, the right to a medical examination and medical assistance, and the right to know why they are being detained. What is happening now is institutional repression in its starkest form. They tore the skin off Raskovic's back. For the first two hours, the man did not dare tell us half of what had happened to him because he was terrified. At this moment, according to our information, a search is underway in the village of Zupce. Who has the mandate to protect Raskovic while he is being beaten across the back with a hose? Who has the mandate to protect people while their houses are being demolished, also in the Municipality of Zubin Potok? Is the person who beat Raskovic and the others supposed to maintain peace and order?" Simic said, calling on EULEX and KFOR to say openly that they did not have a mandate to protect Serbs.

He added that Raskovic and all the others would be provided with legal assistance.

"We cannot feel at ease when we see a person in uniform. I call on the media to report responsibly. On European soil, outside armed conflicts, there has been no recorded case of someone tying another person to a tree," Simic said, continuing:

"International representatives would prefer us to remain silent while they send reports to their home countries saying that they have not identified a single case. If you look at Kosovo Police statistics, the number of recorded ethnically motivated violent attacks in Kosovo is lower than in Switzerland. That is because the Kosovo Police do not record attacks on Serbs as ethnically motivated. The recent placing of KLA and Albanian flags in the churchyard in Lipljan was not even mentioned by the Kosovo Police. There is a wall of silence because they want to portray Kosovo as a success story. That is precisely why we must speak more loudly than ever about our suffering on every platform," Simic said.

Simic stressed that they had so far confirmed that seven people had been seriously beaten.

"Everyone received at least some kind of blow, supposedly accidentally, while being detained or placed in a police vehicle. They are all from Ibarski Kolasin. This is a continuation of what happened at Gazimestan. We were there with our compatriots then as well. At the time, we also called on international representatives to react. Then it continued because no one was punished. Do you know how the Police Inspectorate checked whether people had been beaten? According to statements from those people, whom we met after the torture they had endured, the inspectors asked them whether they had been beaten while the police officers who had beaten them were present. Who would be crazy enough to say so?" Simic asked.

He stressed that the Kosovo Police's treatment of the Serbian people dated back long before the discovery of human remains in Mala Kaludra.

"At Gazimestan, they similarly asked the young men from Montenegro whether they had suffered violence while the police officers who had beaten them were present. They remained silent out of fear. At meetings with international representatives, I feel as though I am in a confessional. I come and tell them what is hurting these people; they understand, they are appalled, they ask for a thousand and one pieces of information, we collect photographs and documentation and give everything to them, but it has no effect. They believe KFOR should withdraw from the bridge. What a paradox. We have never had a worse security situation. About ten years ago, when we had Serbian police officers and Serbian prosecutors, Serbs in the Government, and a Brussels Dialogue in which certain solutions were being reached, NATO and KFOR believed that it was not the right time to open the bridge. Now, when the Dialogue is clinically dead because Pristina does not want dialogue, when there are no Serbian police officers and no Serbian prosecutors, they think differently. These are the people who were given a mandate to preserve peace and security. Yesterday, we told the KFOR Commander what would happen. He says KFOR soldiers will not be on the bridge, but beside the bridge. That is a pile of excuses. Just like today, when someone is trying to portray this as an isolated incident. Raskovic embodies the suffering of all Serbs," Simic said.

Asked whether the Serb List bore responsibility for the withdrawal from the institutions, Simic said that Albanian services had at the time sought to discredit the Serb List.

"We went through an ordeal. In the eight months since the mayors returned, they have not been given the documentation. The Assembly is dysfunctional. That tells you that withdrawing from the institutions was the only possible move. Our strength lies in the citizens. Support for the Serb List has never been greater. I call on everyone to act responsibly. I appeal to our fellow citizens. I understand people who are afraid of police officers, but we are on our own land. We have no reason to bow our heads. What is happening to us is the consequence of there being no order whatsoever. Are we waiting for them to start executing people, in the presence of those who bombed Serbia in 1999? We are doing everything in our power to protect innocent and honorable Serbs. We will continue to do so, proud of the way we represent a courageous people. We will fight to the end; the game is still underway. We will fight politically. This is the struggle of every one of us. That is why I call on all of you to fight and defend ourselves through our very presence," Simic said.

Regarding the detention of Elezovic's wife, Simic said they did not have high expectations.

"Even the person who shot the Stojanovic brothers in Gotovusa on Christmas Eve has still not been convicted. Two years and seven months have passed since then," he said.

He concluded that the Serb List's position was clear:

"KFOR must remain on that bridge in order to protect the peace and security of citizens. What they intend to do is contrary to the interests of the Serbian people. By doing so, they are helping Albin Kurti drive Serbs out of this area," Simic said.