Serbian National Forum (SNF) calls on Serbian government to take immediate measures in order to prevent liquidation of the agriculture company ‘Ratar’ from Laplje Selo.

According to the NGO’s statement, former company ‘Ratar’ used to manage around 1.000 hectares of land of the best quality with the biggest producing capabilities. This land is situated at the outskirts of villages of Lapje Selo, Čaglavica, Preoce, Sušica, Livađe and Gračanica/Graqanicë.

“Taking into account the so far practice in privatization in Kosovo, and the fact that Serbs are not economically capable to participate in privatization, by liquidation of ‘Ratar’, its land will most probably be bought by an Albanian,” reads the statement and adds that such scenario would bring Serbs in the situation where they would further impoverish and continue to live in insecurity and search for more safe residence away from their centuries long habitat.

With the decision on liquidation of the company ‘Ratar’ and ‘PIK Kosovo-Export’, in line with the Kosovo laws, courts would not in be in charge for thousands of cases filed by Serbs.

“Due to a Kosovo courts’ tardiness, particularly of the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo, which was in charge for handling cases between former owners and socially owned enterprises under the management of the Kosovo Privatization Agency, thousands of cases filed by Serbs were purposely not processed.”

Unless this decision is annulled, the destiny of the property of Serbs will fell under the authority of the Kosovo Privatization Agency’s body for liquidation, which, along with the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo, was the biggest obstructer of return of land to former owners and which, by doing so, carried out national discrimination with the tendency to reject or not to address as many as possible cases  in order that financial compensation, that is, minimum so called state's price is offered instead, whereas the same land would be sold to Albanians through the privatization process, reads the statement.

Thus, Serbian National Forum calls Serbian government to take necessary legal, political and diplomatic actions in order to prevent the plundering of land, which used to belong to Serbs for centuries.

SNF further stated that besides the Serbian government, particular responsibility to prevent such scenario lays with the Serbian List and its member Slobodan Petrovic, the outgoing Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo and chairperson of the Independent Liberal Party which has its representative in the Kosovo Privatization Agency’s board.