Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Pelevic arrested on political grounds, war crimes charges a mechanism for retaliation against Serbs

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija of the Government of Serbia stated that yet another in a series of arrests of Serbs under the pretext of alleged war crimes represents a planned move by Pristina against the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija, aimed at intimidating them and driving them out of the area.

The Kosovo War Crimes Unit, it should be recalled, detained Dejan Pelevic yesterday, and according to his wife, the detention took place in front of their grandchildren, which further disturbed the family.

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija states that since the beginning of the year, eight Serbs have been arrested on unsubstantiated charges.

“Dejan Pelevic is a family man from Socanica, the father of three children, who has never left Kosovo and Metohija since the events of 1999, as he had nothing to hide or flee from. As a member of the so-called Kosovo Police, he had to undergo detailed security checks by Pristina, and further evidence of this is the fact that he was engaged as a guard at the so-called prosecution office of Pristina in Kosovska Mitrovica, which means he had to undergo even more thorough checks,” the statement said.

According to the Office, all of this indicates that Pelevic was arrested on political grounds, under which Pristina uses war crimes charges as a mechanism for retaliation against Serbs, rather than for the implementation of any “rule of law.”

“The Office for Kosovo and Metohija is in contact with his family, which is in shock after this unfounded detention, and regarding the case of Dejan Pelevic has contacted all relevant international missions, requesting that the unfounded persecution of the Serbian people be stopped and that the detained individual be allowed to defend himself from freedom, especially considering that he is a sixty-six-year-old Serb with a heart condition who requires adequate medical care and therapy. In addition, the Office has requested that representatives of international missions act in accordance with their mandate in order to ensure respect for the human and procedural rights of both the detained Pelevic and other Serbs who have been unjustly imprisoned,” the Office stated.

As they emphasized, these are politically motivated and legally unfounded proceedings, based solely on questionable testimony, without verifiable and relevant evidence.