Serbia is not recognizing the court in Djakovica/Gjakove, but in case UNMIK request it, Serbia could question General Momir Stojanovic, who is accused of alleged crimes in Kosovo and Metohija in 1999. There is also an option that the former chief of VBA (Military Security Agency) could be questioned in Belgrade by the EULEX prosecutors, if the EU mission will be interested for it. But Serbian state bodies certainly will not send Stojanovic to Djakovica/Gjakove.
However, none of the state bodies received any formal instruction on possible steps to be taken in the case of General Momir Stojanovic, and another 16 Serbs, for whom Interpol few days ago issued a red warrant. The warrant is based on the request of the EULEX international prosecutor for Kosovo and due to alleged war crimes committed against civilians in 1999.
Still, even if charges are considered politically fabricated, on Interpol document is written UNMIK (Kosovo) and UNMIK and EULEX are mission whose presence in southern province Serbia accepted. Therefore, that is a possible source of international pressure on Belgrade.
The last move of Pristina, through “basic court” in Djakovica/Gjakova, almost certainly arrived from the sphere of politics, and not law. The reasons for such claims are perhaps best illustrated by the fact that more than 100 people, for which warrants have been issued due to the crimes committed against Serbs and other non-Albanians, and still unavailable. This data could be repeatedly heard in the parliament, during the heated discussion about the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution Office and their alleged failure to act. Delivery of these warrants should be done by the EULEX. However, they did not do it.
Minister of Labour Aleksandar Vulin said that Serbia does not recognize any court in Djakovica/Gjakove: “Serbia recognizes only Resolution 1244, by which are regulated all legal frameworks in the area of Kosovo and Metohija. The warrant did not arrive accidentally, as well the time, place, or the choice of people is not accidental,” he said.
In the opinion of Borislav Stefanovic, a former negotiator in the dialogue with Pristina, it would be best if the case would be solved in the court, where Stojanović would prove his innocence, because in opposite case, he will be persecuted. Since the arrest warrant was issued by UNMIK, with which Belgrade cooperates, Stefanovic said that it will be “a noose around Serbia’s neck” and the mean of pressure. “The situation is further complicated by the fact that Stojanovic is a Head of the Parliamentary Committee for the control of the security services and the nature of his work is to travel.”
The youngest general in the history of the Serbian army, Momir Stojanovic, as well as Chief of the General Staff, Ljubisa Diković, are the only senior officers who participated in the war in Kosovo in 1999, and which are still active. Diković was recently “called” for crimes against the civilian population, and behind the charges was NGO Humanitarian Law Fund. The fact is, however, that both of them testified in various trials in The Hague Tribunal, that none of the witnesses ever discredited them – and the prosecution interrogated hundreds of them. This could be another proof that the request for the arrest of Stojanovic is just a political game of Kosovo authorities.
