Voice of America: Cases of civil rights violations in Kosovo

Numerous studies and reports show that the right to use the Serbian language, which according to the Constitution of Kosovo is an official language alongside Albanian, is violated every day by representatives of the highest Kosovo institutions, as well as by local officials, representatives of public companies, but also by those whose job it is to enforce law and order, Voice of America reports.

"Violation of language rights is a problem for all communities in Kosovo", is a sentence that can be found in almost all reports of domestic and international organizations and institutions.

One of the latest examples happened two days ago in Laplje Selo and Gracanica, where the Regional Water Company "Pristina" carried out an action of disconnection from the network for consumers who have outstanding water bills.

The workers and inspectors of this company, accompanied by the police, several Albanian media, and the spokeswoman of this company, entered the yards of citizens unannounced and carried out their action which caused great attention from the Albanian public. In numerous Albanian media and on social networks, the behavior of the Kosovo Police officers, who asked individual Serb citizens to speak "Albanian" and "only Albanian", was highlighted during the action.

Ljubinko Karadzic from Laplje Selo, one of those who were disconnected from the water network, evaluates the action of the Regional Water Company "Pristina" as "a well-staged performance for the public and a display of force of representatives of Kosovo institutions".

"They didn't even have a translator; they came with cameras, with five or six teams of journalists, all Albanian journalists. There were no translators; no one wanted to speak Serbian. I referred to the fact that I have the right, if they are already coming to do some intervention, according to the law of Kosovo, I have the right to have an interpreter. They didn't pay attention to that, they asked me to speak Albanian," Karadzic told Voice of America.

In less than 24 hours, more than 100,000 people watched the video in which the Kosovo Police officers "order" Karadzic to speak Albanian, entitled "Oh speak Albanian, only Albanian - Serbian citizens are not allowed to speak Serbian", on the social networks of certain Albanian media. There are more than 500 comments, most of which support members of the police.

"Well done police, only Albanian", "Respect for the Kosovo Police", and "This policeman's name is courage, kudos to brave", are some of the comments on Facebook of some Albanian media.

However, among the citizens' comments, some state that it is a violation of the Constitution and the Law by police officers.

"The Kosovo policeman needs to know Serbian or have an interpreter with him. It is the right of the Serbs to speak to the state authorities in their native language. If you think otherwise, then don't be surprised why the Serbs from the north want to secede and will secede from Kosovo," said one comment.

The second one says, "Respect for the police, but it should be understood that the state is not based on emotions but on laws. Like it or not, Serbian is the official language according to the Constitution, which gives the Serbs the right to speak Serbian. This is the same as a German policeman in Switzerland telling a citizen not to speak French, even though both languages are official there."

In addition to individual citizens on social networks, the violation of the Constitution and the Law when it comes to the Serbian language, in this case, is also pointed out by the commissioner for languages in Kosovo, Slavisa Mladenovic.

In a written statement for the Voice of America, he stated that this behavior of the police, as well as the employees of the Regional Water Company "Pristina" was unacceptable.

"While performing their duties, police officers are obliged to enable communication with citizens in any official language. According to the Law on the Use of Languages, both public and utility companies must provide their services in both official languages. In cases where police officers are unable to communicate in both official languages, they are obliged to provide an interpreter. In the video you sent me, we could hear a policeman telling a citizen that he had to speak Albanian, however, according to the law, the obligation of bilingualism is on the Institutions, not the citizens, so the policeman thereby violated the Law on the Use of Languages," Mladenovic stated.

The Voice of America asked the Kosovo Police Inspectorate whether they would launch an investigation in connection with yesterday's action by the police, who demanded that Ljubinko Karadzic speak Albanian, but the answer did not arrive.

The Deputy of the Kosovo Ombudsperson, Srdjan Sentic, states that in this case there are elements of human rights violations and that the Ombudsperson institution will initiate proceedings ex officio.

"The Ombudsperson institution will ex officio ask the competent authorities to initiate a procedure to determine whether there has been a violation of human rights, i.e. Article 5 of the Constitution of Kosovo, which is very clear - that Albanian and Serbian are official languages in Kosovo and that they have equal status," Sentic said.

The spokeswoman of the Regional Water Company "Pristina" Arjeta Mjeku confirmed in a written statement for the Voice of America that during the action in Gracanica and Laplje Selo, there had been no translator on the ground, as well as that the record of the disconnection for technical reasons had been left in the Albanian language, and that the second time it would certainly be in the Serbian language.

In this case, the Kosovo Ombudsperson will investigate whether the legal procedures related to the disconnection of citizens from the water network have been followed.

"So, whether the citizens received notice, whether the citizens received warnings before the exclusion, and whether they complied with the legal procedures - that they had to give a warning for at least five working days before the exclusion. If this did not happen, we have a clear violation of human rights,” Deputy Ombudsman Srdjan Sentic said.

Ljubinko Karadzic states that he did not receive any notice or warning before the exclusion. He says that the water meter is in the name of his late father and that it is a lump-sum debt from the time when no one paid for water supply services in Kosovo.

"Specifically, they turned off the water because of the alleged old debt that is kept on the accounts of the water company, which is non-existent because even when they inserted that old debt, it did not agree with the balance on the water consumption meters. Twenty years ago, that debt was approximately placed on the account, and despite the fact that I went to talk to them several times to have them delete it, they did not want to, they wanted me to sign an official contract, and I know that by signing the contract, we acknowledge that debt and that's why I didn't want to do it," Karadzic said.

On the other hand, the Regional Water Company "Pristina" confirms that it is an old debt, that the procedures related to the disconnection have been followed, and that Karadzic has been notified several times, but for payment.

"The debt period in which the consumer is obliged to pay is from June 1999 to July 2023, also according to the above-mentioned regulations, the consumer was sent five written notices for payment - the notices were sent in the Serbian language/according to information from the Operational Unit of the Water Company in Gracanica," Mjeku said in a written statement.

According to the data of the Regional Water Company "Pristina", the total amount of unpaid bills for used water in Kosovo is 45 million euros. Of this, 40 million euros are owed by households and more than five million by small and large enterprises.