Spasojevic: Kosovo Police arrested me for wearing a T-shirt with monasteries and the slogan "We won't give you up, land of Dusan's"

In Zubin Potok, Stefan Spasojevic (27) was detained because he was wearing a T-shirt depicting Serbian monasteries with the inscription "We won't give you up, land of Dusan’s".

Spasojevic told Kosovo Online that he had gone out yesterday morning with a friend to take their dogs for a walk in the vicinity of Zubin Potok by a car and had been stopped by the Kosovo Police on the way. They were removed from the car, and their vehicle was searched.

"They stopped us, took us out of the car, and searched our vehicle. I was wearing an old T-shirt with Serbian monasteries and the inscription in Cyrillic 'We won't give you up, land of Dusan's'. They asked me what was written on the T-shirt, and I told them. They then called the ROSU patrol from Zubin Potok to see what was written on the T-shirt because, as they told me, some of them understand Cyrillic," Spasojevic said.

According to him, three members of ROSU arrived and informed him that the inscription on his T-shirt was "offensive on national grounds".

"They told me that the inscription on the T-shirt was an offense on national grounds and that I could only wear it at home or in the woods. Since we were on our way to the woods, I told them that I was wearing it for the woods and that the T-shirt was old, and I certainly didn't want to create any problems for myself. It never even crossed my mind," Spasojevic said.

He added that he and his friend had brought some food, and they had had a knife for cutting, which had been confiscated by the Kosovo Police.

"They took me to the station, seized the T-shirt I was wearing and the knife we brought with the food, which was in the car. I gave a statement, and they told me that if the public prosecutor decided to initiate proceedings, they would call me and they released me home," he said.

He says that he asked them on what grounds the prosecutor could initiate proceedings.

"They told me that under Kosovo law, for what they detained me for, as a criminal offense, I could get from one to five years in prison because it is considered a provocation on national grounds," Spasojevic said.