Albanian Language Media:

• Grenell: Disgraceful that Thaci is still in prison; the Hague is broken (media)
• Milenkovic and Vlajic sentenced to 5 years in prison, Pantic to 2 years (media)
• Special Prosecution welcomes court’s verdict to terrorist attack in 2022 (media)
• Krasniqi on municipal elections: We don’t run for power but for trust (AP)
• Isufaj: Serbian secret service works on recruiting Albanians (Kallxo)
• Rafuna: We want suspension of free energy market by February 1 (Express)
• KFOR assists Kosovo agency in combating wildfires (media)

Serbian Language Media:

• Violation of Special Protective Zone around Serbian Orthodox Monastery of Holy Virgin of Hvosno near Istok (media, social media)
• Milenkovic, Vlajic sentenced to five years in prison each, Pantic to two, Vakic acquitted (Radio KIM, media)
• Office for KiM: Verdict against three Serbs politically staged process (Kosovo Online, media)
• Serbian police and BIA arrested Serb from Strpce under allegations of espionage for Albanians (Kosovo Online)
• KFOR provides assistance in containing blazes (media, social media)
• Serbian Democracy requests Serbian Government to take position on Aleksandar Aresnijevic’s case (Radio kontakt plus, KoSSev)
• Opposition slams Dacic’s remarks Serbia was deceived in Brussels agreement, demand resignations (KoSSev, N1, Danas)
• Serbian Ambassador: I reminded Trump that no US President has visited Serbia since 1980, invited him to change that (N1)
• MFA: We have worked intensively on strengthening Serbia’s international position (Tanjug)
• Novi Sad mayor’s initiative to erect memorial for canopy collapse victims approved (N1, media)

Opinion:

• Trajkovic: Pristina arrests Serbs employed in security structures, while Albanians from south Serbia work unobstructed in Kosovo (KoSSev, Nova.rs, media)

International:

• Systemic humiliation: Why so few rape survivors in Serbia seek justice (Balkan Insight)

Albanian Language Media

Grenell: Disgraceful that Thaci is still in prison; the Hague is broken (media)

US President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, said in a post on X that it’s a disgrace that former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci is still in prison at the Hague. “Jack Smith (yes, that one) arrested Thaci in 2020 when Donald Trump was working on the Kosovo-Serbia deal. It’s so disgraceful that he is still in prison. It’s a shame.  The Hague is broken,” he argued. Grenell made the remarks when sharing a post on X by journalist Fitim Ceku who said that in his interview with Klan Kosova, “former President Hashim Thaçi reminds the people of Kosovo that the penultimate recognition of Kosovo came from Israel in the Washington Peace Agreement with the work and direct involvement of President Trump and Ambassador Richard Grenell. Thaçi says in this interview that Kosovo has been stagnant in the last 5 years and recalls that Trump's return presidency is a golden opportunity for the Balkans and that Trump is clearly committed to peace and cooperation between peoples”.

Milenkovic and Vlajic sentenced to 5 years in prison, Pantic to 2 years (media)

The Basic Court in Pristina has brought the verdict in the case of the terrorist attack on the offices of the Municipal Election Commission in North Mitrovica in December 2022. The accused Milun Milenkovic, and Aleksandar Vlajic, have each been sentenced to five years in prison, while Dejan Pantic to two years sentence. Meanwhile Miomir Vakic was acquitted of all charges.

Milenkovic and Vlajic had requested not to be present at the sentencing, citing the high temperatures inside the courtrooms at the Palace of Justice. According to SPECIAL Prosecution’s indictment, on December 6, 2022, a terrorist attack was carried out on the MEC offices in North Mitrovica, using ambulances to transport hand grenades. Milenkovic allegedly received the grenades, although he denied all charges in his final statement during the preliminary hearing. Vlajic, Pantic and Vakic were accused of throwing hand grenades and stun bombs in an attempt to force Kosovo’s public institutions to withdraw from organizing elections in the predominantly Serb-inhabited north. 

Special prosecution welcomes court’s verdict to terrorist attack in 2022 (media)

Most news websites report that the Special Prosecution of Kosovo has welcomed the guilty verdict by the Basic Court in Pristina with regards to the terrorist attack against the office of the Central Election Commission in December 2022 in Mitrovica North. The court found Milun Milenkovic, Dejan Pantic and Aleksandar Vlajic guilty, and Miomir Vakic was acquitted from the charges. The case prosecutor will review the right to complain. “This decision is an important step toward establishing justice, and it sends a message that acts of violence and threats against the democratic institutions of the Republic of Kosovo will not be tolerated. The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo is committed to its work to guarantee the security of institutions and their normal functioning, and public safety,” the press release notes.

Krasniqi on municipal elections: We don’t run for power but for trust (AP)

Leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Memli Krasniqi said on Sunday that this party will compete in 36 out of 38 municipal elections in the upcoming local elections in October. The PDK chairmanship adopted the final list of candidates for mayors. “A list that beyond individual names represents vision, courage and guarantees good municipal governance in the service of the people,” Krasniqi said.

Krasniqi thanked the current mayors – Bedri Hamza, Ramiz Lladrovci, Fadil Nura and Besim Ilazi – who will not run in the upcoming elections, saying that they have represented the party’s values with honor. 

Krasniqi also said that the PDK does not run for power but for trust. “The trust that governance can be done with honor, dignity, knowledge and love for the people … This is the time of the people,” he said.

Isufaj: Serbian secret service works on recruiting Albanians (Kallxo)

Chief prosecutor of the Special Prosecution of Kosovo, Blerim Isufaj, in an interview with the news website, revealed details about the investigations and latest arrests for espionage, highlighting the commitment of the Special Prosecution to safeguard legal order and security in Kosovo.

Isufaj confirmed the arrest of Kosovo Police lieutenant Bojan Jevtic on charges of espionage and compared it to another case that had concluded in a court sentence. “Yes, it is true that several days ago the Special Prosecution arrested a lieutenant of the Kosovo Police on the suspicion that he had committed the criminal offence of espionage. This happened nearly a month after the court, upon admitting his guilt, sentenced Aleksandar Vlajic to five years in prison for the criminal offence of espionage. The work of the prosecution is proof of our maximal commitment for professionalism and to safeguard the legal order and security of the people of the Republic of Kosovo,” he said.

Isufaj said that although so far one case has been concluded in court, investigations are ongoing into other cases too. “I cannot allow myself to say more at this point because you know that we have tried one case, and other cases are in the process of investigations, but you can be sure that what we have meets the criteria of reasonable doubt,” he said.

Isufaj said that investigations include people of different nationalities and that all cases are being treated with high professional standards. “There are other people under investigation. There are people in court proceedings, and they are all considered innocent until the court has its final say. Nevertheless, we are working maximally and following the best possible standards to investigate and treat them successfully. There are Albanians, Serbs, and others,” he said.

Isufaj also talked about the role of the Serbian secret service in Kosovo, saying that Serbia’s interest to destabilize Kosovo is internationally documented. “It is known worldwide that Serbian intelligence and the state of Serbia itself is interested in creating chaos and implementing their objectives in Kosovo. But our job is to be successful and not fall for propaganda and cooperate with the aim of revealing, identifying and bringing to justice all those involved in such activities,” he said.

Isufaj argued that the objective of Serbian services are especially institutions in the north of Kosovo. “They are interested in everything that happens in Kosovo, and especially the activities of institutions in the northern part of Kosovo,” he said.

According to Isufaj, Serbian intelligence is also involved in financing individuals for destabilizing purposes, including sending them to fight in foreign wars. “I have said this before and several times that some citizens of Kosovo were unconsciously manipulated and misused for fighting for the rights of other people there. I am certain that Serbian secret services finance this category of people to go to Syria, Iraq and other countries, with the aim of creating another mindset in Kosovo, perhaps even a fundamentalist one. We are an open and democratic society, and we will not tolerate the actions of these people … I can say with full competence that the Serbian secret service works hard on recruiting Albanians to join foreign wars. Their objective is to present Kosovo as an unstable state with extremist ideologies and this in fact is not true,” he added.

Rafuna: We want suspension of free energy market until February 1 (Express)

Head of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, Lulzim Rafuna, told a press conference in Pristina today that the business community is concerned about the consequences of moving to the free energy market. He called on the Energy Regulatory Office to suspend the decision to move to the free energy market until February 1 next year. “The goal of this press conference is to express our concern about the free energy market. Despite many requests from our side, there has not been any understanding. The consequences of failing to postpone the decision are now evident, and there will be even more, and the businesses are not going to be able to overcome them. Imports have gone up by 12 percent, we will be moving to autumn and energy prices will go up and so will the prices of our products. We cannot compete with imported products. We will lose our spots in foreign markets, and our exports have started to drop. We call on the ERO to suspend the decision until February 1, because we have seen in the last couple of days that businesses don’t have many offers. We have had discussions with businesses that they are being forced to reach agreements on energy supply. We call on the ERO to protect the businesses, as the responsible institutions have not met their share of responsibility. We will not stop. We will fight with all legal means until there is a firm decision to suspend the free energy market … We hope an Assembly will be formed soon and one of its decisions will be to suspend the decision on the free energy market,” Rafuna said.

KFOR assists Kosovo agency in combating wildfires (media)

NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, said in a Facebook post today that with U.S. aviation troops assigned to Regional Command-East, it is continuing to assist the Kosovo Emergency Management Agency in combating wildfires affecting various parts of the region. “Two UH-60 Black Hawk crews from KFOR, equipped with Bambi Buckets, conducted multiple aerial water drops over wildfire-affected regions, working to contain blazes threatening civilian populations and local infrastructure. Over a two-hour period, the crews completed 18 water drops, delivering more than 43,500 liters of water to the affected area. Such efforts highlight KFOR’s rapid response capability and its steadfast dedication to protecting local populations and assisting civil emergency authorities during times of crisis,” the post notes.

Serbian Language Media 

Violation of Special Protective Zone around Serbian Orthodox Monastery of Holy Virgin of Hvosno near Istok (media, social media)

Unauthorized religious act accompanied by nationalist messages of discord and intolerance

“At the archaeological site of the medieval Monastery of the Holy Virgin of Hvosno (Bogorodica Hvostanska), in the village of Studenica near Istok, within a lawfully established Special Protective Zone, on Wednesday, 23 July 2025, a public gathering with a religious act was held without the knowledge or consent of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC). This act represents a direct violation of the provisions of the Law on Special Protective Zones. During this act, a Catholic priest from Kosovo, Fr. Fran Kolaj, delivered a speech with overt nationalist messages, using inflammatory language that incites interethnic and interreligious hatred, with the clear intent of misrepresenting historically documented facts and appropriating the heritage of the Serbian Orthodox Church. (see transcript of the speech below)”, Raska-Prizren Diocese said in a statement.

“The Diocese of Raška and Prizren strongly condemns this grave breach of the law as part of a series of ongoing provocations against the SOC and urgently calls upon international stakeholders to take an active role in safeguarding the vulnerable religious and cultural sites of the SOC, by providing reliable and enforceable international guarantees to the Church in view of the increasingly frequent violations of applicable legal norms and the lack of adequate responses by Kosovo institutions”, the statement added.

Read the full statement at: https://tinyurl.com/2y48asvh

Milenkovic, Vlajic sentenced to five years in prison each, Pantic to two, Vakic acquitted (Radio KIM, media)

Basic Court in Pristina in a first instance verdict passed today sentenced Milun Milenkovic Lune and Aleksandar Vlajic to five years in prison each for “terrorism”, Dejan Pantic to two years for “hooliganism”, and acquitted Momir Vakic of all charges, Radio KIM reported. Vakic is also freed from paying court expenses, while others have to pay 200EUR each for court expenses and additional 100EUR each to the fund for victims of the war.

Defense lawyers announced appeals

Predrag Miljkovic, defense lawyer of Milun Milenkovic termed the verdict “disastrous”.

“I think the court did not have a single evidence, not even for reasonable doubt, let alone to go above the reasonable doubt and determine that Milun has carried out a terrorist attack. In addition to Milun, Mr. Vlajic is also sentenced, while Mr. Pantic was sentenced for a criminal act of hooliganism which is a rather timid formulation of the court and unclear. I do not know how the court sentenced two persons for terrorism and one for hooliganism and they allegedly acted in compliance”. He announced filing an appeal to the verdict.

“I can’t wait to see how the court will elaborate on all those evidence prosecution staged along the way and all those witnesses called for the first time during the hearings, all those police reports which were absolutely unconvincing. In our closing remarks we absolutely proved there was no communication among defendants, nor previous agreements, that certain evidence were fabricated, inserted, while certain allegations have also been fabricated”, Miljkovic said.

Radio KIM recalled that four defendants were accused of “terrorist act” in relation to their alleged involvement in the attack on the Municipal Election Commission Office in Mitrovica North, on December 6, 2022, by allegedly throwing two bombs and two stunt grenades. No one was injured during this attack, and material damage was caused to the premises.

Office for KiM: Verdict against three Serbs politically staged process (Kosovo Online, media)

Reacting to the verdict of Basic Court in Pristina sentencing Milun Milenkovic and Aleksandar Vlajic to five years in prison each over their alleged involvement in the attack on Municipal Election Commission Office in Mitrovica North, and Dejan Pantic to two years in prison, Office for Kosovo and Metohija termed the proceeding as “politically staged process that can be described as a classic abuse of judiciary by Albin Kurti”, Kosovo Online portal reported.

“This entire court proceeding against mentioned Serbs was marred by direct interference and meddling of Albin Kurti and Dzelal Svecla who declared Milenkovic, Vlajic and Pantic guilty and some sort of terrorists even before the very process started, without evidence, but with clear goal to exert pressure so they get convicted in order to criminalize entire Serbian population in the north of Kosovo and Metohija”, Office said in a statement.

Noting that there has been no evidence whatsoever against sentenced Serbs, the Office underlined that there have been “unequivocal evidence and video recordings of Svecla overturning EULEX vehicles, attacking persons under international protection, discharging tear-gas and stunt grenades in the Parliament in Pristina” but that however he avoids and runs from trials “for these terrorist acts” in all ways possible. “Equally as the member of so-called KSF, Azem Kurtaj who shot at Serbian children on Christmas Eve is a free man today”.

As the Office for KiM said “these all depicts lack of any rule of law, same as biases of the judiciary in Pristina, sentencing Serbs without any guilt, act or evidence to long-term prison sentences, under direct political pressure, while Pristina politicians or criminals committing crimes against Serbs are abolished of any culpability”. 

Serbian police and BIA arrested Serb from Strpce under allegations of espionage for Albanians (Kosovo Online)

Members of the Serbian Security and Informative Agency (BIA) in cooperation with Prokuplje Police Administration arrested this morning at Merdare crossing point a Serb, S.Dj., (full name included in media reports), under allegations of working for Albanian intelligence agency, with mediation of Kosovo Intelligence Agency, Kosovo Online portal reported.

S.Dj., originally from Jazince village, employee of Strpce Health House, is accused of working for the Albanian state informative agency under mediation of Kosovo Intelligence Agency, on whose instruction he undertook actions “against the interests of Serbian community in Kosovo and Serbia in that area, as well as on the plan of gathering information about members of the Serbian security structures”.

It was also said that “he received money for these services” from Albanian members of the intelligence agencies. According to Serbian security services he was in contact with member of Kosovo Intelligence Agency from Urosevac, who was his connection with Albanian intelligence service, and the same was former KLA member who was also responsible to "operationally cover” the Serbian community in the area of Strpce, collected information about reputable representative of the Serbian community in Kosovo, visits of Serbian state leadership, activities of the Serbian politicians and reputable Serbs in that area, as well as about members of Serbian security services, such as BIA, MIA and Serbian Army.

S.Dj., was sent to 48-hour detention after which he will be handed over to the respective prosecutor’s office. 

KFOR provides assistance in containing blazes (media, social media)

“The NATO-led KFOR mission, with U.S. aviation troops assigned to Regional Command-East, continues to assist the Kosovo Emergency Management Agency in combating wildfires affecting various parts of the region”, KFOR said in a post on their official Facebook account.

“Two UH-60 Black Hawk crews from KFOR, equipped with Bambi Buckets, conducted multiple aerial water drops over wildfire-affected regions, working to contain blazes threatening civilian populations and local infrastructure. Over a two-hour period, the crews completed 18 water drops, delivering more than 43,500 litters of water to the affected area.

Such efforts highlight KFOR’s rapid response capability and its steadfast dedication to protecting local populations and assisting civil emergency authorities during times of crisis.

KFOR continues to implement its mandate - based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999 - to contribute to a safe and secure environment for all people and communities living in Kosovo and freedom of movement, at all times and impartially. KFOR works in close coordination with the Kosovo Police and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) in their respective roles as security responders”, the statement concluded.

Serbian Democracy requests Serbian Government to take position on Aleksandar Aresnijevic’s case (Radio kontakt plus, KoSSev)

Serbian Democracy has requested today from Serbian Government to clearly take stance on, as they said, planting the weapons to their president Aleksandar Arsenijevic, and undertake concrete measure on the issue of “putting an end to institutional violence and police repression in Kosovo”, Radio kontakt plus reported.

As the party said they already addressed representatives of the international community for help, but neither Brussels, nor Washington, Berlin or Rome are closer to them than the Government of Serbia, to whom they sent two requests today.

1.       When it comes to the first request, this issue must exceed all partisan borders and the Serbian Government should not create such divisions among its own people in Kosovo – Serbian Democracy vice president Stefan Veljkovic said.

2.       Second request is that the Government of Serbia more decisively undertakes concrete steps on the ground which envisage “lasting end to the institutional violence and police repression”, Veljkovic added, stressing he is not referring to the Serbian Democracy only, but to the entire non-Albanian population in Kosovo.

Also today they again voiced accusations against Kosovo acting Interior Minister Xhellal Svecla and security apparatus under his administration, including Kosovo police for “planting the weapons on the property of their president Aleksandar Arsenijevic”.

As Veljkovic claimed “it was only them who knew that the Serbian Democracy leadership was in central Serbia, for educational purposes, in a seminar”, adding “they had few hours to organize all that and plant the weapons”.

Speaking in a press conference, Veljkovic also said Serbian Democracy will take part in elections in all municipalities in northern Kosovo and the party is in the process of collecting signatures, however, should the “police repression against our party and our leader continue, we will think of calling for boycott entire people and other parties”. 

Opposition slams Dacic’s remarks Serbia was deceived in Brussels agreement, demand resignations (KoSSev, N1, Danas)

Peoples’ Movement of Serbia (NPS) leader Miroslav Aleksic said last night "(President) Aleksandar Vucic and (Interior Minister) Ivica Dacic must resign and undertake responsibility not for someone else’s deceptions, but for their own decisions and agreements they signed to the detriment of Serbia and its people”, KoSSev portal reported.

Aleksic made these remarks responding to statements of Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic who was part of the Brussels agreement negotiation in 2013 as prime minister of that time. Dacic said earlier “he and Vucic were deceived back then”. Aleksic added if that is accurate then both Vucic and Dacic “were accomplices in that deception, not the victims”. Aleksic argued that with the Brussels agreement Serbs in the north of Kosovo have lost all they had – police, judiciary, Serbian municipalities, dinar, language, alphabet and all other jurisdictions – while the only provision which made sense – establishment of the Community of Serbian Municipalities – has never been implemented.

Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) said 11 years ago “Aleksandar Vucic set it up to Ivica Dacic to sign the Brussels agreement", while today based on the words Ivica Dacic personally uttered “we found out, that they, as he said, have been deceived”. “Who exactly? Him and Vucic?”, SSP asked in a statement.

“If Dacic is telling the truth, if he and Vucic were truly deceived, it means they did not know how to negotiate, they were unable to represent Serbia’s interests and that is why they must resign immediately”, SSP said in a statement. SSP said they also demand full analysis of all agreements, deals and concessions that were made to the benefit of Pristina over the last decade.

Responding to SSP accusations, Ivica Dacic said they represent “a peak of hypocrisy” adding that during the time SSP officials were members of the government, as part of Democratic Party (DS), more than 80 countries recognized Kosovo and the-then government moved the negotiations and dialogue on Kosovo issue from United Nations to the EU, as per agreement of the-then President Boris Tadic and the-the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton.

The Serbia Centre (SRCE) party, in their reaction to statements of Serbia being deceived in Brussels, said people living in Kosovo “knew that a long time ago and pay the price of such a policy every day”. The party said under the ruling parties over the last 12 years, SNS and SPS, Serbian diplomacy suffered “a complete fiasco”, the international reputation of Serbia does not exist, while diplomacy is only used “to smear participants of the protests and ensure remaining in power”. The party called on President Aleksandar Vucic and Interior Minister Dacic to resign over the acts related to Kosovo issue which lead “to tacit surrender of a part of the state and departure of even the small number of Serbs who stayed living in Kosovo after the first failure of red-right coalition at the end of nineties".

Serbian Ambassador: I reminded Trump that no US President has visited Serbia since 1980, invited him to change that (N1)

Serbian Ambassador to Washington Dragan Sutanovac, who recently presented his credentials to President Donald Trump, called on the US President to visit Belgrade and emphasized that there is significant potential for strengthening cooperation between the two countries in areas such as energy, artificial intelligence, infrastructure, defense, and many others, N1 reported.

“At the White House, I presented my letters of credence to President Donald Trump, officially assuming my duties as the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the United States of America. In a friendly and constructive atmosphere, we spoke about the relationship between Serbia and the United States. I reminded President Trump that no U.S. president has visited Serbia since 1980 — and invited him to be the first to change that”, Sutanovac shared on social media on Monday.

The Ambassador added that the message from their conversation was clear: “Let’s make the Serbian-American strategic partnership great again!” The last US president to visit Belgrade was Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1980, reported the Serbian public broadcaster RTS.

MFA: We have worked intensively on strengthening Serbia’s international position (Tanjug)

In the first one hundred days of the current Government of Serbia, the MFA "continued to work intensively on strengthening Serbia’s international position, promoting its key national interests, and advancing defined foreign policy priorities, while simultaneously deepening bilateral relations with international partners and actively participating in the work of major multilateral forums", the ministry said on Friday, Tanjug news agency reported.

"The period since the formation of the Government led by Prime Minister Djuro Macut has been marked by an elevated level of diplomatic engagement in extremely complex geopolitical conditions and in the context of intricate relations among the Western Balkan countries. The Ministry has actively and decisively pursued Serbia’s foreign policy positioning, with a focus on consolidating existing and forging new partnerships, safeguarding national interests, and enhancing Serbia’s influence within international organisations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs remains committed to responding to modern global challenges in line with the strategic priorities of the Republic of Serbia.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/MXuW6

Novi Sad mayor’s initiative to erect memorial for canopy collapse victims approved (N1, media)

The initiative by Novi Sad mayor Zarko Micin to erect a memorial for those who lost their lives in the November 1 canopy collapse was approved at a meeting of the City Assembly’s Culture Committee. On November 1, 2024, a concrete canopy at the recently renovated main train station in the city of Novi Sad in northern Serbia collapsed, killing 15 people and severely injuring two more, one of whom succumbed to the injuries later.

During the three-hour meeting, the opposition asked Mayor Micin to withdraw the proposal from the agenda, and ultimately, they walked out of the meeting. Opposition representatives said that they do not oppose building the memorial itself, but they are against the decision to have a member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) lead the initiative. They also said the memorial should include information about who is responsible for the tragedy.

Micin said those opposing the initiative are motivated by political reasons. The City Assembly members will vote on the proposal on July 31, following which the City Council will be able to set up a committee to oversee the memorial’s construction.

Opinion

Trajkovic: Pristina arrests Serbs employed in security structures, while Albanians from south Serbia work unobstructed in Kosovo (KoSSev, Nova.rs, media)

“What Kurti does to the Serbs in Kosovo, Belgrade does to them in the rest of Serbia”, politician and president of European Serb Movement from Kosovo Rada Trajkovic told TV Nova.rs broadcast Among Us, KoSSev portal reported.

Speaking about the war crimes indictments in Kosovo, Trajkovic said Pristina should use the information from the verification mission that was present in Kosovo prior and after the conflict in order to have credible indictments. “They have information and dossiers of crucial people who were to large extent involved in crimes against Albanians, but also about KLA who committed crimes in parallel”, Trajkovic said.

“Prisons in Kosovo are not prisons but camps for Serbs”

Trajkovic opined that prisons in Kosovo are not prisons, but, as she often calls them “camps for Serbs”. “There are around 60 Serbs who are literally thrown in there, without legal process, procedure, without established guilt, bare arrests”.

“Bare repression against Serbs”  

She also said that with arrests but also in other ways, acting Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti is in fact “intimidating Serbs”.

“Kurti intimidates the Serbs who were expelled from returning to Kosovo. He is intimidating them so they would not ask for their property rights. Serbs that have stayed living in Kosovo, are also intimidated from losing their right to freedom of expression”, she said.

She also mentioned the case of a recently arrested Kosovo police member of Serbian ethnicity, accused by Pristina for espionage, while he was “decorated with Kosovo medal for professionalism in his work in this institution”.

She then listed examples of arrests and deportations of a number of Serbs from Kosovo, employed in the Serbian security institutions, while at the same time, in parallel to that, Albanians from south of Serbia are also employed in the very same Kosovo security institutions, without any obstruction.

“Many Albanians from Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja come to Kosovo, and also work in the security sector, but there is no problem whatsoever”, she said.

As she noted, this all points to “bare repression against Serbs”.

“As far as the percentage of multiethnicity in Kosovo is concerned it is at its lower grade, to simply activate expulsion of Serbs so it would gain intensity. That is the essence of his acts (Albin Kurti)”, she opined.

What is Belgrade doing in the meantime?

“Belgrade does to Serbs in the rest of Serbia, what Kurti does to them in Kosovo”, she said. By doing so, it delegitimatizes itself from demanding professional work of the judicial or police system.

"If you in Belgrade use your institutional mechanisms to, in one way, arrest and detain almost on a daily basis - children, students. If you have students who are beaten, with injuries on their heads, if you have students who are hurt by people who ram to protests with their vehicles, if you have the intellectual elite who shoulders the country being questioned. What is Belgrade doing?", she asked.

As she said there are also Mandic and Radoicic “with their groups in the area around the presidency (building in Belgrade)”. "If there is an area around the presidency that is supposedly for students who want to go to classes, but these other students don't allow them, but actually in there you see one Mandic with a group of people, you see Radoicic's men who are a classic paramilitary - then you see the process that Mr. Vucic had led", she said.

Pristina authorities did not solve problem if they moved Serbian institutions outside of Kosovo

Asked about Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and the impression it had been halted over the last two years, since the Banjska armed incident, Trajkovic recalled the process of closing Serbian institutions in Kosovo. She opined that by closing these institutions, Pristina authorities did not ensure a solution. Serbs work around Kosovo and receive incomes from the Serbian state only.

"If there are Serbs and Serbian institutions are taken from them and placed somewhere around Kosovo, and the Serbs only have income from the Serbian state, it means that you have not solved the problem. They are located around Kosovo, they do not have their own jobs, and the problem must be solved if we want to have stability in the region and stability in Kosovo. You cannot have stability in Kosovo with the institutions of the Serbian state around Kosovo. The institutions and Albin Kurti cannot fail to fulfill their obligations”, she argued.

People from Kosovo, she cited just one example, received a visa-free regime for the passports of the (Serbian) Coordination Directorate (for residents in Kosovo), and there are no institutions in Kosovo that work for the legalization of such passports, because "they moved everyone alive outside."

She also said Serbs are entitled to dual citizenship, however, the Serbs in Kosovo are now left in a position to be fully dependent on Belgrade, and that is “what suits Serbian President”.

International

Systemic humiliation: Why so few rape survivors in Serbia seek justice (Balkan Insight)

Serbia has done little to implement European standards in handling cases of sexual violence against women, meaning survivors who report their abusers face a long and often humiliating path to justice, forced to repeatedly relive their ordeal. Many more choose silence.

The police officer asked for her underwear, so she left them in the cubicle where she undressed for the physical exam. “What will I do without my underwear?” she asked the nurse afterwards. “Just pull on your trousers,” the nurse replied. Sofia [not her real name] had been raped.

The perpetrator was a man she met through work, an educated, wealthy, well-respected man who had offered her a lift to work but instead took her to a house on the outskirts of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. It happened roughly a year ago. Her ordeal went on for hours. When she managed to escape, Sofia believed she was running to the safety of the police. But her trauma only continued.

Read more at: https://shorturl.at/VBHDv