Arsic's wife: There must have been a misunderstanding; he was in good relations with both Serbs and Albanians

Zorica Arsic, the wife of Zlatko Arsic, who was arrested last night by the Kosovo police at the administrative crossing with Serbia for an alleged war crime, claims that the accusations against her husband are false; emphasizing that he had good relations with his neighbors, whether they were Serbs or Albanians.

Arsic said that her husband had been young in 1999 and had not been a member of the Serbian police, as stated in the accusation.

"I claim that he was not a Serbian policeman in 1999, he was 19 or 20 years old then, after that he started working in the KSF," Arsic told Kosovo Online.

She stated that her husband had worked since 2006 as a Kosovo policeman until he had been suspended two years ago. She added that before serving in the Kosovo Security Forces, Arsic had worked as a security guard in the Assembly of Kosovo.

Arsic also added that the accusations against her husband were not true and that he had not mistreated anyone.

"It's a lie and it's not true that he mistreated anyone, and they can ask whoever they want about that. He has good relations with both Albanians and Serbs, and he always cooperated well with everyone," Arsic pointed out.

She said that her husband was taken to Pristina after his arrest and that she knew nothing more about him since last night. According to her, the Kosovo police had also searched their house.

"They came and arrested him and took him to Pristina. They found only one hunting rifle for which he has a license and everyone knows that he is a hunter. They searched everything, even the neighbors' yards, and they found nothing but the rifle, and nothing else," Arsic said.

The president of the Provisional Authority of Kosovo Kamenica, Tanja Aksic, assessed that the arrest of Zlatko Arsic represented intimidation of the Serbs in Kosovo.

"For every Serb in Kosovska Kamenica in Kosovo Pomoravlje, this represents intimidation of the Serbs. Mr. Arsic is only 45 years old. He worked as a policeman in the Kosovo Police for some 15 years. He has good interpersonal relations with his Albanian and Serb neighbors, and I believe that this is another form of pressure on the Serbs who stayed to live in these areas," Aksic said.

She pointed out that she had been informed about Arsic's case last night, after which she immediately informed the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

"The office has provided legal assistance for the Arsic family. We will fight with all democratic means for Mr. Arsic to return home to his family," Aksic said.

A neighbor of the Arsic family, Sanja Tasic, had only words of praise for Zlatko.

"He is a hard-working man, whether it was agriculture, he fattened chickens, and he had a good relationship with Albanians. He never said anything ugly. What happened last night is terrible, the children were upset, and they cried," Tasic says.

Zlatko Arsic's father, Predrag Arsic, says that his son was mistaken for someone else by the person who reported him for threatening her with a weapon and taking a box of cigarettes.

"There is a possibility that someone else took it from him, the police were everywhere at the time, but he accused my child," Arsic says.

Zlatko Arsic, a father of three children, from the village of Ajnovce near Kosovska Kamenica, was arrested last night by the Kosovo police, because the Special Prosecutor's Office accuses him of beating and harassing the injured initial B.M. in the police station in Kosovska Kamenica in March 1999, and that, in cooperation with other members of the Serbian police and paramilitary groups, he allegedly participated in the deportation and displacement of Albanians.