Deputy Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Dusan Kozarev met today Nils Melzer, the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, reports RTK2.
During the meeting, Melzer was informed about the violations of the human rights of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo. Melzer is in the process of preparing a report for the UN Human Rights Council and is on a several-day visit to Serbia, reports RTK2.
Kozarev said that UNMIK and EULEX have been working to establish the rule of law in Kosovo for years, but that the situation is still far from satisfactory, because, for example, still there is no systematic response to the problem of the usurped property of Serbs.
Kozarev paid special attention to the case of Bogdan Mitrovic, who was arrested for alleged involvement in war crimes, who is in custody for several months without any indictment, reports RTK2.
Kozarev explained that this case is the model by which politically instructed judiciary deals with potential returnees and people who does not want to leave their property to usurpers.
Also, the prosecution of Serbs for alleged war crimes, based on secret warrants and unreliable testimonies, which often are given by usurpers of the property, is as Kozarev points out, is a political attempt to create an artificial balance before the commencement of the work of the Special Court for the crimes of the so-called KLA, reports RTK2.
Kozarev warns that this practice of intimidation of citizens discourages potential returnees and is a direct attack on the freedom of movement and a whole range of human fundamental rights. Kozarev also briefed the UN representative on the process of dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, the political situation in the province, and the problem of the unsatisfactory level of sustainable return of internally displaced persons in Kosovo, reports RTK2.
