Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) Kosovo strongly condemns the recent armed attack on the village of Gorazhdevc/Goraždevac in the municipality of Peja/Peć. HLC Kosovo recalls that, in the past, attacks against local Serbs in this region almost never led to appropriate police investigations. The recurrent failure to arrest perpetrators of these crimes creates a climate of insecurity for Serb citizens of this village and of Kosovo at large, and has a negative impact on the establishment of civic trust in Kosovo institutions.

While local and central institutions in Kosovo constantly call to integrate the Serb community within Kosovo society, in fact very little political will can be seen in practice. Indeed no concrete steps have been taken by these institutions to actually create the conditions for local Serbs to integrate, to move freely and to have full security in their localities. Public discourse promoting integration must be accompanied by concrete actions.

HLC Kosovo calls the Kosovo Police to take all measures stipulated by the law in accordance with its mandate to arrest and bring to justice the authors of the crimes and to prevent any attack on Serb citizens of Kosovo. HLC Kosovo also requires local authorities to assess the material damage recorded due to this attack and to provide appropriate reparation to the residents of Gorazdevac.

On Monday morning at about 2:50 am an armed attack occurred in the village of Gorazdevac. A car was set ablaze, while a residential home was hit by gun fire, and a local monument commemorating Serbs killed during and after the war was damaged.