Simic: I am going to the hearing with my head held high because we did nothing illegal, our place was with our people

Ahead of his hearing at the Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office, where he is being summoned as a suspect for allegedly attacking the constitutional order of Kosovo and other criminal offenses related to the December 2022 protests, Igor Simic, a member of the Presidency of the Serb List, stated that he is going with his head held high because he knows that his place, as well as that of other Serb List members as political representatives, was and still is with their people.

Simic reiterated that he and the Serb List have always stood for peace, have called on citizens to remain peaceful and restrained, and have always done everything within their power, as a political party, to preserve peace in Kosovo.

“We are entering this process and giving this statement not because I believe the process is fair or based on any actual evidence of guilt against any of the forty-something Serbs who have been questioned, but because we know we are innocent. We know we did nothing illegal, and we know that our place as political representatives was with our people then, now, and will be in the future. Unlike some Albanian political representatives who can ignore summonses from the prosecutor, Serbian political representatives do not have that option because we are threatened with detention, arrest, and everything else that has been done in the past to dozens of Serbs,” Simic said.

He emphasized that he is going to the hearing with his head held high because he knows they did nothing illegal and that they stood by their people.

“This is yet another example of how the international community understands its obligations toward the Serbian people. In 1999, they proclaimed the multiethnic character of Kosovo and Metohija. To this day, that has not been respected, and there are fewer and fewer Serbs every day. In 2013, we were promised the Community of Serb Municipalities, and to this day, it still hasn’t happened. Everything that was stipulated in international agreements backed by both the EU and the United Nations has not been implemented in practice, especially when it comes to protecting the interests of Serbs and improving the position of the Serbian people in this region,” Simic concluded.