Popovic: Serbs are being expelled without due process, the regime in Pristina is carrying out silent terror

Igor Popovic, Assistant Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, warned of the systematic expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo, which, he claims, the authorities in Pristina are conducting without any legal proceedings and within less than 24 hours, thereby violating the fundamental right to an effective legal remedy.

He stated that everyone is witnessing the terror of Albin Kurti, particularly regarding the deportation of Serbs employed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia. Popovic said that Serbs living in Kosovo are increasingly being denied the right to family life solely because they are employed in institutions of the Republic of Serbia in central Serbia.

He emphasized that Serbian families in Kosovo are being systematically prevented from leading normal lives and that the authorities in Pristina are carrying out “silent terror,” with daily attempts to physically remove Serbs from this territory.

“We have seen people being arrested for fabricated war crimes, arrested for barricades, arrested for all kinds of made-up charges by the so-called judiciary of Pristina’s institutions, but this is truly horrifying. And from what I see, it is happening daily. They are literally hunting people at administrative crossings, trying to remove them from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija,” Popovic said, noting that Kosovo citizenship is being revoked without any court procedure.

He stressed that the international community must respond urgently, including the EU, UNMIK, OSCE, the Council of Europe, and Brussels negotiators, because, as he said, “the regime in Pristina is using global crises, such as the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, to intensify pressure on the Serbian people while the attention of the international public is diverted.”

Popovic highlighted that non-governmental organizations and legal experts in Kosovo have also spoken out about these expulsions, including the former President of the Constitutional Court, who assessed that all decisions made by Kurti after April 19 are unconstitutional.

“They issue a decision, and that decision is enforceable the moment it is made. You can file a legal remedy, but the decision is effective immediately. You have no right to an effective legal remedy. We don’t even know under what mandate he is doing this, because they have no authority,” Popovic added, concluding that the Office for Kosovo and Metohija will continue to appeal to and inform international institutions about what he described as “a horrifying form of institutional persecution.”