Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Kurti’s police serve to intimidate and harass Serbs

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija issued a statement saying that Bojan Zdravkovic from Paralovo near Gnjilane and his ill father were subjected yesterday to physical and verbal violence by members of the Kosovo Police at the Bela Zemlja crossing, adding that such incidents further endanger the position of Serbs in Kosovo.

“Yesterday’s abuse by members of the so-called Kosovo police at the administrative crossing Bela Zemlja against Bojan Zdravkovic from Paralovo near Gnjilane and his ill father is a new example of the brutality of the regime of Albin Kurti and the oppression of Serbs in the area of Kosovo and Metohija. After they were not allowed to cross the administrative line, one of the members of the Kosovo police refused to return documents to Bojan Zdravkovic and then physically attacked him and directed a barrage of insults at him on a national basis. According to Zdravkovic’s own testimony, Kurti’s police officers then followed him by car and, using force, detained him and his father for an informational interview where they were held for two hours,” the statement of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija said.

The statement stresses that such violence further instills fear among Serbs and shows that the police in Kosovo, according to the Office, serve not the law but intimidation. It adds that the daily challenges faced by Serbs require a change in the rhetoric of politicians in Pristina and concrete reactions from international missions in order to protect basic human rights and the security of the Serbian people.

“Such blatant violence against people on a national basis illustrates the severity of the position of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija and further instills fear among Serbs, but also testifies that Kurti’s police in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija do not serve order and the law, but the intimidation and harassment of Serbs. There are many challenges faced by Serbs in everyday life in Kosovo and Metohija, and in order to create basic conditions for the peaceful life of our people it is first necessary to change the inflammatory rhetoric of politicians in Pristina who daily generate violence through their statements and fuel the idea of an ethnically pure space in which there will be no Serbs. Representatives of the Office in the field are in contact with the Zdravkovic family and will visit them today, but a concrete reaction from international missions and representatives who have the mandate to stop this persecution of the Serbian people and ensure the protection of basic human rights and a safe life for our people in Kosovo and Metohija is also necessary,” the statement added.