Petkovic: Police officers who beat Raskovic reinstated to continue torturing Serbs in northern Kosovo

Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic said that the two Kosovo Police officers who had previously been suspended in connection with the beating of Nenad Raskovic had been reinstated so that they could continue, as he put it, torturing Serbs, adding that they had effectively been rewarded for what they had done.

“Kurti’s police officers, who brutally beat Nenad Raskovic from the village of Dren, tied him to a tree and mistreated him, breaking two of his ribs and leaving him with numerous hematomas, have been reinstated after just one month, evidently so that they can continue torturing the Serbian people in northern Kosovo and Metohija,” Petkovic wrote on the social media platform X.

He recalled that, according to him, they had initially attempted to conceal Raskovic’s mistreatment, but were suspended after photographs and what he described as irrefutable evidence of their abuse became public.

“However, they fooled no one, as has been demonstrated today. Their supposed suspension served merely to pull the wool over the public’s eyes and provide Kurti and Svecla with a façade for the international community of some supposed ‘rule of law’ in Kosovo and Metohija, whereas Albin Kurti’s only actual policy is impunity for terror against Serbs. That is why these police officers of Kurti—these torturers—have evidently been rewarded today,” Petkovic said.

He noted that, following what he described as the same pattern, no one had been held accountable for the shooting of brothers Stefan and Milos Stojanovic from Gotovusa, for Milan Jovanovic being shot in the back while transporting cooking pots, or for the shooting of Dragisa Galjak.

“Will representatives of the international community now once again issue statements saying that they are ‘monitoring the case,’ while Kurti’s violent police officers walk around freely instead of being held accountable and sanctioned for their wrongdoing?” Petkovic asked.

Erduan Baljici, Head of the Operational Planning and Assessment Unit, confirmed to Kosovo Online that the two Kosovo Police officers had returned to work at the police station in North Mitrovica, explaining that the suspension previously imposed by the Kosovo Police Inspectorate had expired.

The Serb List also reacted, seeking answers as to who had decided, and on the basis of what findings, to reinstate the two police officers who had been suspended on suspicion of involvement in the alleged mistreatment of Nenad Raskovic from Dren. It also asked whether the investigation had been completed and, if not, why the officers had been returned to duty before its conclusion.

Nenad Raskovic, a Serb from the village of Dren, was seriously injured on August 11 after, according to his account, he was beaten by Kosovo Police officers.

Raskovic was admitted to the Clinical Hospital Center in Kosovska Mitrovica but, due to the severity of his injuries, was transferred to the Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade for treatment.

Following his allegations, the Kosovo Police Inspectorate opened an ex officio investigation and subsequently recommended that the Kosovo Police suspend two officers from the Regional Police Directorate in North Mitrovica on suspicion of the criminal offense of “mistreatment in the exercise of official duties or public authority.”