Popovic: The number of politically motivated arrests of Serbs is increasing, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija is doing everything to help them

Assistant Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Igor Popovic, stated for Kosovo Online that there was a growing trend of arrests and political persecution of Serbs in Kosovo, and this government institution is making every effort to assist all those detained, including providing legal assistance. According to Popovic, 21 Serbs facing politically motivated legal proceedings will spend the New Year and Christmas holidays in prisons in Kosovo, and seven others have already been convicted by the courts of local self-government in Kosovo and are serving prison sentences.

"According to our data, 21 people are in custody due to politically motivated arrests. Unfortunately, seven people have already been convicted by the courts of provisional self-government institutions. We also have five people who have been released after serving their sentences and 16 people who have been detained and have been released pending trial. These are our data for individuals who have been arrested for political reasons," Popovic stated.

He points out that the number of Serb arrests has noticeably increased since March 2021, when Albin Kurti became the Prime Minister of Kosovo.

According to Popovic, the tendencies of arrests and political persecution are continually on the rise.

"We have constant arrests and politically motivated persecutions; Pristina constantly puts pressure on its judiciary to keep people constantly detained, and there is a large number of individuals unfortunately arrested for alleged war crimes. There is a tendency to label all Serbs as war criminals, claiming that Albanians have suffered some form of genocide. As a result, people who have lived there for years or have visited their properties as displaced persons are arrested based on false witness statements. They are exposed to significant pressure and are treated in the Albanian public as alleged criminals, although they are essentially political prisoners," Popovic said.

According to him, displaced Serbs south of the Ibar River are arrested while visiting their former households. In the north, arrests are mainly due to expressing dissatisfaction with the usurpation of municipalities by Albanians.

"People are arrested south of the Ibar River who visit those areas from which Serbs were expelled. We also have a strong tendency for people to be arrested in the north because they express political protests due to the usurpation of their local self-governments by so-called Albanian mayors who were elected with a fraction of a percent of the Albanian population. They were simply defending their local self-governments, and now these people are treated as terrorists, even though they were only expressing their legitimate rights, human rights, and the right to freedom of movement," he explained.

Regarding the measures taken by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija to protect Serbian prisoners in Kosovo, Popovic emphasized that efforts were made to immediately provide each detainee with a lawyer who would represent them throughout the entire process.

The costs of defense are covered by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, as he added.

He also highlighted that the Office for Kosovo and Metohija was in constant communication with representatives of the international community to ensure humane treatment for prisoners and the right to prove their innocence.

"Above all, we are trying to provide these people with adequate professional support, to engage lawyers, expert individuals who will represent and defend them in all stages of the process, from the moment of arrest to the court appearance, and to finance all defense costs. Also, the Office is trying to engage international missions, EULEX, UNMIK, OSCE, and the EU, constantly reminding them in writing and orally that these people were arrested for political reasons and that they are innocent and in prison. It is necessary to prevent their mistreatment, enable them to be released from custody, defend themselves at liberty, or be definitively released without being mistreated in prison and having adequate health conditions. Simply, they should not be left at the mercy of Kurti's regime," Popovic emphasized.

Popovic stated that the international community's response to the appeals from the Office for Kosovo and Metohija was not at a satisfactory level.

"We receive responses from the international community. Unfortunately, from the international community, especially EULEX, which at one point had an executive function in the judiciary of provisional self-government institutions, we mainly receive standard responses, stating the need for an independent judiciary and regular judicial proceedings... They claim that as a mission, they have the ability to oversee; that they will monitor but cannot interfere with the so-called Kosovo judiciary. This is truly nonsense, there is no independent Kosovo judiciary," Popovic noted.

Popovic, the Assistant Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, emphasizes that this is a personal political persecution by Albin Kurti and his regime, and he assesses that Pristina is abusing the UNMIK mission, using it to arrest Serbs throughout the region.

"Pristina does not have the ability to go before Interpol, and it happens that these warrants issued by Pristina are published through UNMIK and reach Interpol so that our people are arrested in Montenegro based on some warrants from Pristina. We had a case of two people who were arrested in Montenegro in September this year. Fortunately, these people were released, but unfortunately, such things happen because of the actions of UNMIK," Popovic said.