Office for Kosovo and Metohija: The international community should prevent Kurti from causing new crises and destabilizing the region

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated that at the order of Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the Kosovo Police continued to arrest and mistreat the Serbs with the aim of raising tensions and inciting a new crisis in the north, and called on representatives of the international community to react, enable the Serbs in Kosovo to lead a normal life, and prevent the authorities in Pristina from further inflaming the entire region.

"The so-called Kosovo Police under Kurti, whose sole goal and task is to terrorize the Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija, continued today with the mistreatment and arrest of the Serbs in the northern municipalities and torture designed to provoke new tensions and crises on the ground. First, a Serb named M.M. was detained in a village near Leposavic in front of his wife and in the presence of his five children. Then, his apartment was thoroughly searched in the presence of Kosovo Special Forces. Following the same script and directive, Kurti's Special Forces began searching and rummaging through several private properties in northern Kosovo and Metohija, both in Kosovska Mitrovica near the hospital and in Zvecan," the statement from the Office for Kosovo and Metohija reads.

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija asked representatives of the international community whether the Serbs in Kosovo had the right to a normal everyday life without the terror and intimidation by the Kosovo Police.

"Therefore, we ask the international community - if the Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija can go peacefully to buy bread, to the hospital, to take their children to kindergarten or school, without their path being blocked by armored vehicles of Kurti's heavily armed Special Forces who daily carry out brutal terror and further escalate the situation on the ground," the Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated. 

They emphasize that the desire of the Kosovo Prime Minister is to "subjugate" the Serbs in northern Kosovo and to use the tragic events in Banjska for persecution, revenge, torture, and arbitrary detention of the Serbs, with the sole aim of ethnically cleansing northern Kosovo, all in full view of the international community.

"The tragic events in Banjska cannot and must not be an excuse to strip the Serbs in northern Kosovo of all their human rights, to make them hostages of Kurti's criminal regime that targets anyone with a Serbian name, all the while the West and international missions operating in these areas turn a blind eye to the suffering and persecution the Serbs," the Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated.

They have issued a request to the international mission to stop the daily arrests of the Serbs.

"We demand that international missions put a stop to Kurti's daily abuse, cease the daily detentions and arrests of the Serbs, and contribute to calming tensions and preventing the authorities in Pristina from further inflaming the entire territory of Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the broader Western Balkans region," the press release stated.