Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Verdict against Pleskovic is a message to expelled Serbs from Prizren that they must not return

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated today that the 15-year prison sentence handed to Milos Pleskovic from Prizren for a war crime against the civilian population, allegedly committed in that city in 1998, is a message to all those expelled from Prizren that they must not return to their homes, and not even think about it, because they will be arrested and convicted of the gravest crimes without any evidence.

“Kurti’s politically motivated courts continue issuing draconian, unlawful, and politically driven sentences against Serbs, which are based neither on evidence, credible witnesses, law, nor justice, but solely on ethnic grounds with the aim of exacting revenge against the Serbian people,” the Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated in its press release.

The most recent of such verdicts, they say, is precisely the one delivered today to Pleskovic, whom no credible witness linked to the alleged act.

The Office further noted that Pleskovic was only 19 years old at the time and continued to travel to Prizren even after the events in question, yet alleged witnesses only identified him as the supposed perpetrator 24 years later.

“His family, along with thousands of other Serbs, was violently expelled from their homes in Prizren in 1999, when the city was completely ethnically cleansed of Serbs. Today's verdict sends a message to all of them: do not return to your homes, do not even think about it, because you will be arrested and convicted of the gravest crimes without a shred of concrete evidence,” the statement emphasized.

The Office also recalled a similar verdict against three Serbs from northern Kosovo, as well as the arrest of the Assistant Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Igor Popovic, for speaking the truth about Serbian suffering.

“This is the state of the judiciary in Pristina, it exists solely to try and hand down draconian sentences to Serbs, not to uphold any rule of law. Through such political and unlawful verdicts, the basic human rights of Serbs are being violated, including the right to a fair trial, which is guaranteed by international conventions. That is why the Office for Kosovo and Metohija once again calls on international missions to, in line with their mandated responsibilities, ensure the protection of Serbs’ fundamental rights and to prevent all forms of their physical and institutional persecution,” the statement from the Office concludes.