Starovic: Reinstatement of suspended Kosovo Police officers establishes pattern of impunity

Serbia’s caretaker Minister for European Integration Nemanja Starovic said today that the reinstatement of two Kosovo Police officers who had been suspended over the beating of Nenad Raskovic established a clear pattern of impunity for those spearheading what he described as Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s campaign against the Serbian people.

“Surprise, surprise. The two Kosovo Police thugs who brutally beat Nenad Raskovic have been reinstated after just a one-month suspension, so they can continue harassing local Serbs in the north. Considering that Azem Kurtaj, who shot an 11-year-old Serbian boy, is walking free after spending just two months in detention, this establishes a clear pattern of impunity for those spearheading caretaker Prime Minister Kurti’s campaign of fire and fury against the Serbian people (who, according to Kurti and his accomplices, should not even be referred to as a people),” Starovic wrote on the social media platform X.

The two police officers, who had been suspended on suspicion of involvement in the beating of Nenad Raskovic from the village of Dren near Zubin Potok, returned to duty today at the police station in North Mitrovica, Erduan Balici, Head of the Operational Planning and Assessment Unit, confirmed to Kosovo Online.

Nenad Raskovic, a Serb from the village of Dren, was seriously injured on August 11 after, according to his account, he was beaten by Kosovo Police officers.

Raskovic was admitted to the Clinical Hospital Center in Kosovska Mitrovica but, due to the severity of his injuries, was transferred to the Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade for treatment.

Following his allegations, the Kosovo Police Inspectorate opened an ex officio investigation and subsequently recommended that the Kosovo Police suspend two officers from the Regional Police Directorate in North Mitrovica on suspicion of the criminal offense of “mistreatment in the exercise of official duties or public authority.”