Nastic: Serbs in Kosovo live in fear; Berlin doesn't pressure Pristina

Zaklin Nastic, a member of the Left Party in the German Bundestag, stated that pressure regarding Kosovo was only applied to Belgrade, but not to Pristina and those who politically pulled the strings in Kosovo, emphasizing that such one-sidedness was a "carte blanche for Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti to do as he pleases," Deutsche Welle reported.

During her trip to Kosovo in March, Nastic was guarded by two armed members of the German Federal Criminal Police Office.

As Nastic said for Junge Welt newspaper, this was because of the "most heinous insults, death threats, and rape fantasies" she often receives from "Albanian nationalists."

Nastic, who, like much of her party, opposes Kosovo's independence, visited the village of Gotovusa, where a member of the Kosovo police shot and injured two young Serbs on Christmas Eve. She criticized the fact that the attacker was only under house arrest and was not charged with attempted murder.

"That speaks volumes about the so-called rule of law in Kosovo," she said.

Nastic says that Serbs live in fear and a constant atmosphere of threats and that an average of three attacks on them are recorded daily.

"Minorities are afraid that they can be freely targeted. Everyone sees that it is possible to simply attempt to murder people and get away with it. No one is consistently punished or sent to prison for it. It's really frightening," Nastic said.

She adds that Serbs who were at least 18 years old in 1999 live in fear of being falsely accused of war crimes.

"There are great fears because the situation is now explosive in a way that it hasn't been for years," Nastic adds.

She says that an important interlocutor, whose name she could not reveal, told her that former President Hashim Thaci could still be talked to, unlike current Prime Minister Kurti.

"Since Kurti came to power, there has been no dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, everything is happening only through the EU. There are no more attempts to find joint solutions. People feel it directly, not only Serbs but also Albanians, for whom the situation is also not great. For example, in Mitrovica, where Serbs from the northern part of the city used to buy from Albanian neighbors from the southern part. Now, the fear of attack is so great that they no longer do so. Traders feel it," the German MP said.

Accusations against German authorities

According to her, official Berlin is failing to pressure Pristina to calm the situation.

"This fits into the conflict being downplayed here, and blame is unilaterally assigned to Serbia. Pressure is only applied to Belgrade, but not to Kurti and those who politically pull the strings in Kosovo. Such one-sidedness is a carte blanche for Kurti to do as he pleases," Nastic believes.

Nastic accuses German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of interpreting international law as she sees fit, condemning the secession of parts of eastern Ukraine, but not the "NATO aggression, and therefore Germany's" against Serbia in 1999.

At the end of her interview with Junge Welt, Nastic welcomes the ongoing processes against Thaci and others in The Hague.

"For me, the KLA is a terrorist organization. It is important that war crimes on all sides are fully prosecuted - this includes NATO, by the way. Western states must finally open their archives," she concluded.