Vasic: Seizure of Serbian property has become a practice in Kosovo

Lawyer Dejan A. Vasic stated that the seizure of Serbian property has become a practice in Kosovo, adding that in various areas – in Pec, Klina, Istok, Gnjilane, Mitrovica, and Pristina – there have been many cases in which people acquired property through forgeries and fraud that does not belong to the person who became its owner.

Vasic told RTS that he began dealing with such cases while still a trainee lawyer and that over the past 20 years, he has handled a large number of them.

“This is something that was happening in earlier years as well, but with less attention,” Vasic said, referring to recent reports about the arrest of individuals who sold land using forged documents.

He pointed out that it is impossible to calculate the total amount of property taken in this way, but added that, based on his experience, justice can be achieved with great effort.

“In 90 percent of cases, I managed to resolve them, but only with significant effort from my colleagues and me,” Vasic added.

He noted that the reasons lie in the post-war situation and a mentality that something belongs to the victor.

He also said that there are problems within the legal system.

In that regard, he stated that only last year he received a decision on the first appeal he had filed back in 2007.

“It took 15 years for the appeal to be resolved,” Vasic emphasized.

When asked how the police respond when Serbs report such problems, he said that in many cases criminal complaints are processed, of which there are many, and that those who usurp property are prosecuted and even convicted, but he stressed that the system is slow and needs reform in order to “breathe” and function properly.

He particularly pointed to a pattern in which a person who tries to report that their property has been seized by an occupier is then reported and arrested under accusations of war crimes.

“The prison in Podujevo is full of people who tried to exercise their property rights and were reported as war criminals,” Vasic stressed.

He also noted that cadastral records in Kosovo are “quite problematic” and that it will take a great deal of time and effort to align everything as it should be.

One of the Serbs whose property has been usurped is Milisav Zivaljevic, who fled Pec in 1999 and now lives in Kraljevo.

He told RTS that people who claim they legally bought his property have no documents to prove it.

“I have been deprived, I cannot reclaim my property,” Zivaljevic said, adding that he cannot even go to Kosovo for fear of arrest.

In the past two months, several people in Kosovo have been arrested on suspicion of illegally selling other people’s land using forged Serbian documents.