Petkovic: Hetemi criminally seized property in Leposavic before the eyes of the entire international community

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, stated that today’s raid by the Kosovo Police—on the order of the “fake mayor of Leposavić, Lulzim Hetemi”—into the sports hall and the premises of the Sports and Tourism Organization (STO) Leposavic, represents an illegal act of expropriation carried out in full view of the entire international community.

Petković said that Lulzim Hetemi, the fake mayor appointed by Albin Kurti, accompanied by the Kosovo Police, forcefully entered and seized the premises of the sports hall in Leposavić today, which houses the Sports and Tourism Organization of Leposavic. 

“This facility, built exclusively with funds from the Government of the Republic of Serbia, was used by hundreds of children for school sports and extracurricular activities, by numerous recreational athletes and all the sports clubs in the municipality, as well as by the Faculty of Physical Education. Exams and part of the lectures in physical education were held there, making the hall a multifunctional facility for this municipality,” Petkovic noted. 

He added that by seizing this hall, Kurti’s subordinate—whom no Serb in Leposavic voted for—criminally expropriated property to which he has no right or legal basis for possession, an act of sheer force and unlawful appropriation carried out in plain sight of the entire international community.

“The Serbian flag was removed from the building and replaced with the flag of illegal institutions from Priština, and the hall’s management was told they must vacate not only the facility but also the surrounding yard. In doing so, Kurti takes another escalatory step aimed at destabilizing the situation on the ground and continues to directly target Serbian children and youth, leaving them without a facility where they could engage in sports activities, develop properly, socialize, and participate in sports,” he added.

He emphasized that everywhere in the world, children are allowed to practice sports and have access to sports halls, but in Kosovo, Serbian children are denied any rights, while others’ property is being unlawfully, unilaterally, and criminally seized before the eyes of the entire international community.

“On what grounds and under what right are these institutions being appropriated, while impossible living conditions are being created for Serbs to force them to leave their homes and hearths? The entire international public knows well that 20 percent of Serbs have had to leave northern Kosovo and Metohija due to provocations and threats from Pristina, and this sends a clear message to the remaining Serbs to leave their homes as well,” Petkovic concluded.