A large group of RTS crew members travelling to Mitrovica North was held up at Jarinje crossing point yesterday RTS reported. According to RTS its convoy with equipment has been waiting at Jarinje for 20 hours despite paperwork dully submitted. After the delay the convoy entered Kosovo.

Meanwhile, KoSSev portal reports that both Kosovo police and customs claimed they are “not responsible.“

Kosovo police spokesperson Daut Hoxha told KoSSev that the police did not impose an entry ban and that the portal should contact Kosovo customs. On the other hand, Kosovo customs spokesperson Adriatik Stavileci claimed that the customs are not responsible for the RTS team being held up, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to issue a permit for their entry. Stavileci later said that the RTS crew was allowed to enter Kosovo after the Kosovo Foreign Ministry issued an entry permit.

“It was necessary that they are issued an entry permit, but the ministry gave them a permit, so everything is fine now. The problem was not with the customs,“ Stavileci said.

In the meantime the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and its branch in Kosovo (DNKiM) strongly condemned the delay of the RTS crew at the crossing point of Jarinje and “the prevention of the planned concert in Mitrovica North“.

“The UNS and the UNS in Kosovo emphasize it is unacceptable to restrict the freedom of movement, especially the freedom of movement of journalists and media personnel, and demand that the Kosovo authorities promptly allow the RTS team to continue the path to Kosovska Mitrovica,“ the UNS and UNS in Kosovo wrote in a statement.