Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated on Wednesday that Serbia, by “continuing on the path of methods” used by Russian President Vladimir Putin, poses a threat not only to Kosovo and the Balkan region but also to its own citizens, following the recent arrest of two Kosovo citizens by Serbian authorities.
Speaking at his Government’s first meeting this year, Kurti accused Serbia of unjust, intentional, and malicious arrest of Kosovo citizens and the torture of its own citizens.
“Serbia poses a threat not only to our citizens, our security, regional stability in the Balkans, but it has recently shown that it also poses a threat to its citizens who are willing to apologize for the Serbian genocide in Kosovo… Serbia continues on Putin’s path, from intimidation to inhumane torture of political opponents,” Kurti said before his ministers on Wednesday.
Kurti referred to the arrest of the leader of the Republican Party in Serbia, Nikola Sandulović, who was detained last week in Nis.
Chief Prosecutor Borica Mitić stated on January 5 to Radio Free Europe that he was detained due to “suspicion of committing a criminal act of incitement to national, racial, and religious hatred and intolerance”.
Kurti mentioned that the Serbian state “not only beat him but also raised charges of inciting hatred after bowing at the grave of 7-year-old Blerina Jashari, who was killed by Serbian forces”.
In a video posted on social media on January 2, Sandulović is seen during a visit to the “Adem Jashari” complex in Prekaz, laying wreaths at the monument commemorating the events of March 5, 6, and 7, 1998, when Serbian forces killed over 50 members of Adem Jashari’s family, one of the founders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
Kurti also spoke about the recent arrest of Kosovo citizens in Serbia.
Hasan and Xhavit Dakaj were arrested on January 5 by Serbian authorities after crossing the border with Kosovo at the Merdare border crossing.
A day later, the High Court in Belgrade imposed a one-month pre-trial detention on Hasan Dakaj, a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), who is accused of war crimes.
Xhavit, his brother, was released.
“Hasan Dakaj continues to be held unjustly and arbitrarily. This is not the first time, nor is it an isolated case. This is a deliberate and malicious behavior by Serbia, contrary to international conventions on human rights,” said Kurti.
Serbia continues to detain Kosovo citizen Nezir Mehmetaj, allegedly for committing crimes against the civilian population during the war in Kosovo, he added.
“Nezir Mehmetaj has been held in pre-trial detention for months without an indictment, in contradiction to Serbia’s own laws, confirmed also by the Humanitarian Law Center in Serbia,” he emphasized.
Petrit Dula has served a first-instance court sentence in Belgrade of two years in prison. He has been released, announced Kosovo’s Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu.
Kurti also accused Serbia of not respecting the agreement brokered by the European Union between the two countries for the normalization of relations, reached earlier last year.
“Article one of the agreement states that the parties, Kosovo and Serbia, will develop good neighborly relations with each other, based on equal rights. However, Serbia chooses everything over developing good relations with us; it actually chooses to attack Kosovo, as it did on September 24, 2023, in Banjska, and then defend the perpetrators of this act, led by Milan Radojičić,” Kurti said.
Radojičić, former deputy chairman of the Serb List, the largest Serbian party in Kosovo, took responsibility for the attack on the Kosovo Police by a group of armed Serbs last year in the north.
Kosovo has requested his extradition, but Serbia has rejected this possibility.
