Simic: Rasic brought Kurti’s police into Serbian health and educational institutions

Serb List strongly condemned the arrest of directors of Serbian educational and healthcare institutions by Pristina authorities, because, according to the party, the operation was aimed at intimidating Serbs in Kosovo, emphasized parliamentary candidate and member of the Serb List Presidency Igor Simic. He stressed that Nenad Rasic, by targeting honorable Serbs, today “enabled and brought Kurti’s police” into Serbian educational and healthcare institutions.

At a press conference, Simic said that the arrests were carried out with the direct participation of “the favorite of Albin Kurti’s regime, Nenad Rasic,” who targeted Serbs during a government session in Pristina.

According to Simic, Rasic wanted to accomplish what Kurti and his regime attempted on March 15, when they allegedly sought to forcibly integrate Serbian healthcare and educational institutions in Kosovo.

Today’s arrests, Simic stressed, have nothing to do with elections, but rather represent an attempt to attack the Serbian educational and healthcare sectors.

“If, on the other hand, we speak about elections, this is the most direct attempt to help Rasic so that, through force, he can obtain the votes of the Serbian people and, through intimidation, alter the will of voters ahead of the upcoming elections,” he emphasized.

Simic pointed out that in the previous period Rasic had attempted to offer money to the Serbian people instead of programs and plans in order to secure their votes, aware that in the previous three election cycles he had not won Serbian votes, but rather obtained his mandate “as a gift from Albanian parties and on the basis of Albanian votes in municipalities where Serbs do not live.”

He stressed that Rasic, by targeting honorable Serbs, today “enabled and brought Kurti’s police” into Serbian educational and healthcare institutions.

“This unprecedented pressure clearly demonstrates the nervousness of the regime in Pristina, which is aware that its favorite cannot win a sufficient number of votes and is aware of the strength of the Serb List and the unity of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, reflected primarily in the election results in February, October, and December of last year. And this will also be shown in the June 7 elections, because if they know anything about Serbs, they know that we are strongest and most united when we are unlawfully and unjustifiably pressured, oppressed, and attempts are made to break us,” Simic stated.

He noted that it is particularly concerning that someone is trying to transfer administrative issues within schools and healthcare institutions into the political sphere.

“This is a unique case in the world, that because of a disciplinary decision by an institution, the person leading that institution is arrested. This is the darkest stain on Nenad Rasic’s conscience, if he has any, because five Serbian families now do not know where their family members are, people who were arrested only because they are Serbs and because they honorably carried out their duties,” Simic said.

He stated that during this election process there has already been an attempt to influence the Serb List and the will of the Serbian people by preventing the party from having members and chairpersons of polling boards, while in municipalities in northern Kosovo it also does not have presidents of municipal election commissions.

“Moreover, the Central Election Commission certified Nenad Rasic’s list a few days ago, even though it includes candidates of Bosniak and Montenegrin nationality, which is unconstitutional and unlawful. Individuals who are not Serbs are being nominated for seats reserved for the Serbian people. This is an introduction to the catastrophe that is coming and represents a great danger for all of us,” Simic warned.

Regarding alleged election process irregularities, Simic displayed photographs and claimed that grants distributed by the Ministry for Communities and Returns, headed by Rasic, were allegedly handed out together with ballot papers showing that votes had been cast for Rasic’s party, bearing the ministry’s logo.

“That is why we call on the competent authorities to answer the question of what happened to the audio recordings in which Serbian votes are allegedly being purchased. What happened to all the statements from people who, during the integration process, were employed in central institutions but lost their jobs over the past three years because the regime in Pristina forced them to work in Pristina, Djakovica, and Glogovac instead of in the north, as had been agreed. Why did the police not react then?” Simic asked.

He also stated that the Serb List had informed representatives of the Government of Serbia, as well as the relevant ministries of education and health, and international representatives about today’s arrests, from whom they expect an urgent reaction.

“These people must be released. They are ready to defend themselves while free and prove their innocence during the proceedings. It is unacceptable for labor-law issues concerning employees to be resolved through force, long guns, and police roaming through schools and healthcare institutions,” Simic stressed.

Asked whether the detained individuals had been placed in police custody, Simic replied that the practice in arrests of Serbs continues in that “nothing is known,” adding that families for a long time were not even informed that their relatives had been detained.

“The police provided no information, as in other cases, completely unlawfully. Instead of first informing the families and allowing lawyers to arrive, they rushed to publish everything in the media, thereby showing what the objective of the operation was — a political intimidation campaign, to which Serbs will respond with unprecedented unity on June 7 and show that everything Rasic is doing with the support of the regime in Pristina will fail. Serbs will win what rightfully belongs to them under the law,” Simic stated.

Earlier today, the Basic Prosecution Office in Pristina announced that the Kosovo Police had detained five ethnic Serbs in Gracanica on suspicion of committing the criminal offense of “violating the free determination of voters,” following claims made by caretaker Minister for Communities and Returns Nenad Rasic.

The statement added that in this case “sufficient statements and evidence have been collected giving rise to suspicion that the detained individuals were involved in unlawful activities related to the aforementioned criminal offense.”