Perovic: The raid by armed police officers disturbed citizens, families terrified

After the Kosovo Police searched nine locations in Zubin Potok and Zvecan and in the operation detained seven Serbs, the elected mayor of Zubin Potok, Milos Perovic, says that the intrusion of armed police units caused great unrest among the locals and that the families whose houses were searched experienced significant stress. In a statement to Kosovo Online, he notes that the repression by the Pristina regime does not stop even after the local elections.

He says that in Zubin Potok alone the Kosovo Police searched seven locations and arrested six persons.

Perovic says that he visited every house where a search was conducted and spoke with the family members who endured great stress.

“In the early morning hours on the territory of the municipality of Zubin Potok, strong police forces broke into seven honest Kolasin families. On behalf of the Srpska lista (Serb List) I inform the public that I have visited each family and with the help of the Republic of Serbia the full material damage will be compensated, and full legal assistance provided. The children are terrified, as are all members of these families,” emphasized Perovic.

He adds that the repression by the Pristina regime over Serbs does not cease even after last week’s local elections, when, he says, the Kolasin residents gave their trust to the Serb List which won more than 80 % of the votes.

One of the detained Serbs was Radomir Kasalovic. His wife Brankica, visibly upset, said that all of them — her, her husband and their four children — were asleep when the police broke into the house and began the search without prior explanation.

“Early this morning around six o’clock the police burst into the house, I didn’t hear them when they entered, I just heard a squeak, the children were awakened… My daughter screamed a lot. I got up, my husband was behind me. He raised his hands, saying he was scared… I heard my daughter in the other room, saying ‘Mom, the police are here, they’re searching, don’t be afraid.’ Here live me, my husband and our four children. They hand-cuffed him, took him into another room,” recounts Brankica Kasalovic. 

The police, she says, were looking for a witness who would accompany them during the search while the family was asked whether they had gold, money or weapons.

“Everything was upside down, broken, damaged, God forbid, one cannot restore the mess in five days, to clean it up and put it back together…” describes this woman what was left behind by the police.

They remained, she says, almost until nine o’clock.

“They stayed until about 8:45, when they left, they didn’t take him immediately, they had no basis, they found nothing… The child who had a Motorola — those are forest Motorolas, as a child’s toy, nothing more. They later told him he must go to the police station, to give a statement… They say, ‘The police station in the north.’ Who can trust them, we had neither trust nor understanding for them to take him,” she adds.

As she said, the children were scared again when Radomir was taken out of the house.
The search was accompanied by a police dog introduced into the stables of the animals the Kasalovic family keeps, and during the search a scanner was used.

“We know they could find nothing, we had nothing for them to find or take away. Only how much they scared us, how our children have trauma, nothing else. He was released around half-past nine, I’m not sure exactly, he called me personally, and that was when they released him from the police station onto the street. They released him later, after giving a statement. When I asked the policeman what it was about, he said he knew from the past what he had. He had nothing from the past. The hunting rifle he had they took away five years ago. Then they connected him with Zumberi and that is over,” said Kasalovic and explained that they asked her where her husband was 13 years ago, which, as she says, “she cannot even remember”.

Meanwhile, the Special Prosecutor’s Office of Kosovo and the Kosovo Police have stated that all seven detainees were released after giving statements, and that the operation was carried out as part of an investigation related to the killing of an EULEX officer.