UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, September 10, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Osmani travels to Poland to attend “Vital Voices Summit” (media)
Kurti in Leposavic, lays cornerstone of police substation (media)
Vucic to announce Serbia requests about “attacks against Serbs in Kosovo” (RFE)
Gashi: If LDK wins elections, it is open for coalition to all parties (media)
Maliqi: Kosovo to insist on opening the bridge in coordination with allies (media)
Four arrested in north on suspicion of insulting and assaulting police (Kallxo)
Abdixhiku meets new head of EU Office in Kosovo (media)
Tahiri: Kosovo must be careful, Serbia is inciting situations (media)
“Serbs wants KFOR presence to delegitimize Kosovo independence” (media)
“When army returns to Kosovo” banner at Albania-Montenegro border (Express)

Serbian Language Media:

Vucic after meetings with Lajcak and Hill: Kurti wants persecution of Serbian people, Serbia's demands and measures in 72 hrs (media)
Four young Serbs arrested in Mitrovica North last night (KoSSev, N1, Danas, Radio kontakt plus, social media)
Interrogation of arrested young Serbs underway in Mitrovica North (Radio kontakt plus)
Office for KiM and Serbian List: Arrest of young men is a mirror of anti-Serb politics (KiM radio)
Serbian Democracy condemns police violence against young men in North Mitrovica (KiM radio)
Vucevic: Arrest of four young Serbs is continuation of terror against Serbian people (RTV, Kosovo Online)
Parent of one of arrested men: Excessive force for verbal contact (KoSSev, Kosovo Online)
Petkovic on construction of police station in Lesak: A threat to remaining Serbs (KiM radio)
Celic: If Kurti attacks Serbian education and healthcare it would lead to a disaster (Kosovo Online)

Opinion:

Femic: ‘Kosovo’ still the most expensive Serbian word, that's why it is "covered" by Rio Tinto (N1)

International:

Kosovo’s Osmani urges compromise to avert new row with the West (BIRN)
Serbian Deputy PM meets with Shoigu in Moscow to discuss BRICS invite (RFE)
Harris Needs a Balkans Policy—Quickly (foreignpolicy.com)

Humanitarian/Development:

K2.0 discusses public space (Kosovo 2.0)

Albanian Language Media

Osmani travels to Poland to attend “Vital Voices Summit” (media)

Most news websites report that Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani has traveled to Poland where she will attend the Vital Voices Summit. Osmani will be a keynote speaker in a discussion on the topic “Women for rights and democracy” moderated by Ambassador Melanne Verveer, leader of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, and the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, and co-founder of Vital Voices.

Vital Voices provided early support for leaders who went on to become Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, U.S. Youth Poet Laureates, prime ministers, and breakthrough social entrepreneurs. Since its founding in 1997, Vital Voices has directly supported more than 20,000 women change makers across 185 countries and built the most powerful global network of women leaders who are daring to reimagine a more equitable world for all.

Kurti in Leposavic, lays cornerstone of police substation (media)

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti stayed today in Leshak in the municipality of Leposavic, in the north of Kosovo. Accompanied by Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla and Local Government Minister Elbert Krasniqi, Kurti took part in laying the cornerstone of a police substation.

Vucic to announce Serbia requests about “attacks against Serbs in Kosovo” (RFE)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that he would present Serbia’s requests over what he called “substantial and brutal attacks against the Serb population in the north of Kosovo”. He also said that within the next 72 hours he would address the public about “what the international community has failed to implement, but what Serbia wants and aims to do”. Vucic made these remarks after meeting EU special envoy for the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajcak. He also met with U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill.

Vucic also said that Serbia is always ready for dialogue “but Serbia is never willing nor will it allow the persecution of the Serbian people, and it is clear that this is the only objective of the Kurti government”.

Vucic said that in October he would present to the Serbian Parliament “proposals with broad influence”.

Gashi: If LDK wins elections, it is open for coalition to all parties (media)

Arben Gashi, head of the parliamentary group of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), said in an interview with Klan Kosova on Monday that if the LDK wins the next general elections, due in February next year, it will be open for coalition to all parties. “I think that the Democratic League of Kosovo needs to come to power through victory [in the elections],” he argued. He said that if the LDK loses the elections, then it is up to the party’s bodies to decide what steps they will take. “I don’t think there is any willingness in the Democratic League of Kosovo to enter a coalition without being the first [political party].”

Criticizing the Kurti-led government, Gashi said that “the government is incompetent … we have seen a government with ambitions to constantly violate the Constitution, a government with major corruption affairs, and a government that has unfortunately put Kosovo under international sanctions”.

Maliqi: Kosovo to insist on opening the bridge in coordination with allies (media)

Political commentator Agon Maliqi said during a debate on Klan Kosova on Monday evening that the Kosovo government must insist on opening the main bridge over Iber river in coordination with the internationals. “There is access to the north, through other bridges too. The bridge is there with a symbolic nature, and the day will come when it will be opened. We need to insist on coordination with NATO, because any action by Kosovo includes a cost not only for Kosovo, but for all of NATO, and the situation in the region,” he argued.

Maliqi said that internationals know better why the main bridge should not be opened now. “I am confident that they have more detailed information than us. They have a better picture of the developments. Therefore this issue should not be seen as pressure on us or that they are being unfair,” he added.

Four arrested in north on suspicion of insulting and assaulting police (media)

Kosovo Police head of regional operations in Mitrovica North, Petrit Fejza, told Kallxo news website that four people aged from 19 to 21 – members of the Kosovo Serb community – were arrested on the suspicion of insulting and assaulting police officers while the latter were carrying out their duties. “Three of them were drunk. Following the prosecutor’s order they were sent to 48 detentions. They are expected to be interviewed now,” he said, adding that the incident happened on the night between Monday and Tuesday.

Some news websites note that the families of those arrested claim that they were mistreated during the arrest, but police have refuted the allegations.

Abdixhiku meets new head of EU Office in Kosovo (media)

Leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), Lumir Abdixhiku, met today with the new head of the European Union Office in Kosovo, Aivo Orav, wishing him success in his new post and “expressing his conviction that the cooperation between Kosovo and the EU will continue in the spirit of shared values and principles”. Abdixhiku also informed Orav about LDK’s positions on recent political developments, preparations for the February 9 general elections, and presented him the LDK’s political program.

Tahiri: Kosovo must be careful, Serbia is inciting situations (media)

Several news websites report that Kosovo’s former chief negotiator in talks with Serbia, Edita Tahiri, argued in a Facebook post today that “Serbia is working for the ‘Serbian World’ encouraged by Russia, by dominating and controlling the Serbian minority throughout the Balkans, but Kosovo needs to be attentive and careful, because … Serbia will incite situations that it needs for its own agenda, as it is playing with the Serb minority in the north, but Kosovo must know how not to allow scenarios that lead to the hegemonistic project of the ‘Serbian World’.”

“Serbs wants KFOR presence to delegitimize Kosovo independence” (media)

Several news websites cover an interview that Lily Lynch, a journalist reporting from the Balkans over the last decade and editor of Balkanist magazine, for the Jacobin. Lynch argued in the interview that “the potential for a return to war in Kosovo is not that high, if for no other reason than the fact that you still have the presence of troops from the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) who have never left the country. The presence of those soldiers is now welcomed by the Serbian community as well. Perhaps that is because they see it as a way of delegitimizing Kosovo as an independent state, but the reality is that to a certain extent, both Kosovar Albanians and Serbs want the KFOR troops to remain there”.

Lynch also said that she doesn’t see “the potential for full-scale war as being very high, although I do think low-level violence is assured — you have spasms of violence where handfuls of people are killed. I could see that happening and maybe even something worse, but I don’t think a return to the conflict of the 1990s is possible unless there are some dramatic changes on the international scene, with an expansion of the current confrontation between Russia and the West”.

Lynch further argued that “even if that were to happen, we should remember that the Serbian military now shares intelligence with NATO and has engaged in more joint exercises with NATO than with Russia in recent years. I don’t see the prospects for war as being very high, but I also don’t see much prospect of a resolution with Kosovo getting what it wants, whether that means full recognition or even de facto recognition from Serbia. I also don’t expect Serbia to get what it wants, because Kosovo is not a part of Serbia anymore — that’s the reality”.

“When army returns to Kosovo” banner at Albania-Montenegro border (Express)

A group of citizens organized a blockade on Sunday at one of the border crossings between Albania and Montenegro displaying a banner which said “When the army returns to Kosovo”. Montenegrin media reported that among the group were representatives of war veterans from the wars in 1991-2001, members of the 7th battalion of the military police of the former Yugoslav Army and members of the Orthodox brotherhood Zavjetnici Tvrdos Niksic.

Albanian politicians in Montenegro, the mayor of Tuz municipality, and the Vice President of the Montenegrin Parliament, reacted to the provocation, saying that the display of the banner is unacceptable and that it is a provocation.

Serbian Language Media

Vucic after meetings with Lajcak and Hill: Kurti wants persecution of Serbian people, Serbia's demands and measures in 72 hrs (media)

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, after meetings with the EU envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajcak, and the US Ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, pointed out that Kosovo PM Albin Kurti wants destruction and persecution of the Serbian people, and that this is clear to everyone.

In his address to the media, Vucic, after two hours of talks with the special envoy for dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Miroslav Lajcak, and the US ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill, announced that in the next 72 hours, he will address the public in Serbia and present what Serbia is demanding because, as he pointed out, of the essential and brutal attack on the Serbian population, primarily in the north of Kosovo, and what is it that the international community has not fulfilled.

"In the next 72 hours, we will address the public and I will talk about what Serbia is asking for and what Serbia will do," said Vucic and announced that in October he will appear before the Serbian Parliament with proposals on what Serbia will do about the whole situation.

"We have to fight for Serbia in the world, to look for allies, we will do everything possible about that," Vucic said and added that it is now clear that Kurti only wants ''the destruction and expulsion of the Serbian people, I think that has now become clear to everyone, not only to us," he pointed out.

As he says, his actions such as canceling jobs, preventing people from getting married, divorcing, getting a death certificate of a family member, speak in favor of Kurti's aspirations.

"In spite of all this, only words of condemnation come from Europe and Quint. Then, no matter how much your hands are tied, and you are in a difficult position since 2008, and even before that, you have to take actions that will lead to the return of certain rights, called the status quo ante, or to say that you are not able to preserve and protect your people. And we have no right to say the latter because we are bound by the Constitution, but also by the Brussels agreements," said Vucic and repeated that he will address the public in the next 72 hours with serious measures and things.

He said that as far as bilateral relations with the United States are concerned, they are going in a very decent and good direction.

Regarding the Brussels dialogue, Vucic repeated that Serbia is always, and only for dialogue, adding that he is ready to go to Brussels today and talk with Kurti, but that Serbia is not ready and will not allow the pogrom and persecution of its population.

Four young Serbs arrested in Mitrovica North last night (KoSSev, N1, Danas, Radio kontakt plus, social media)

Four young Serbs were arrested last night in Mitrovica North, KoSSev portal reported. Kosovo police claim they were arrested because of “insulting and attacking two police officers” adding that “one police officer sustained injuries” and that three Serbs were “under influence of alcohol”. The young Serbs are sent to a police station in Mitrovica South to 48-hour detention.

Meanwhile, videos of the arrest are shared on social media, with some people claiming that those young men were beaten up prior and after the arrest. Leader of Serbian Democracy, Aleksandar Arsenijevic published the video of the arrest on his profile on X social media also claiming the same.

The arrested young Serbs are R.N. (2004), L.K. (2005), V.J. (2003) and M.M. (2005). Petrit Fejza from Kosovo police region North confirmed the arrest saying that the four young men were taken to the police station, and prior to that, together with a police officer, to medical check up.

Asked by KoSSev portal does it mean that those young men were sent for medical check-up because of being beaten up by police during arrest, Fejza denied the beatings, adding that “medical examination is a regular procedure”, but that police “has the right to use force if those they are arresting offer resistance or attempt to flee {...}”.

“Around the midnight, police for longer than 10 minutes beat up three Serbian young men nearby Mrvica pizza restaurant. When screams were heard, Mr. Lekic came out of Bisevac restaurant and recorded all of that, while police brutally arrested him together with other persons. They are currently at a police station in Mitrovica North”, Arsenijevic said in a post on X social platform.

“I would remind police they must not arrest and confiscate phones from citizens recording in public areas. Arrest of Mr. Lekic came with the aim to delete recording (of the arrest) from his phone. I personally went to the police station to insist on immediate release of Mr. Lekic and preservation of data from his mobile phone”, Arsenijevic added in a post.

The video of arrest, Arsenijevic published on X platform and re-run by Serbian media is available at: https://shorturl.at/b7aPj

Radio kontakt plus published another video of arrest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkgUwj6kZoI&t=3s

Interrogation of arrested young Serbs underway in Mitrovica North (Radio kontakt plus)

Radio kontakt plus reported that the interrogation of the arrested young Serbs was ongoing in the police station in Mitrovica North. They came to the hearing with their lawyers, the Radio said, adding that the interrogation of two young men has concluded, while the process was ongoing in relation to the third one. After the interrogation, the young Serbs are returned by Kosovo police to Mitrovica South.

Parents are still in front of the police station in Mitrovica North, waiting for the decision of respective bodies. One of the parents said the young men have visible physical injuries.

Lawyer: Unprecedented scandal of Kosovo police, young man brutally beaten up

Lawyer of arrested R.N. Milos Delevic said his client was arrested over an alleged attack on an official person.

“I want to stress that he was brutally beaten up by Kosovo police, during the arrest, and also later on, while being in a police station in the north. He was asking for help, from the doctor, the entire night, and he was only permitted that in the early morning hours. He was slapped several times, he claims he was hit five or six times in genital area, and that he was physically and psychologically mistreated. They did not give him water, did not allow him to contact the family, did not allow him to call the lawyer, so this is an unprecedented scandal by the police, after the war”, Delevic said.

He added his client was first taken to the police station in Mitrovica North and then transferred this morning to Mitrovica South.

Asked by a journalist if he has precise information about what happened and if police officers were in plain clothes, Delevic responded that police officers were in plain clothes, but that police and his client disagree on how the incident occurred.

“{...} My client said the police yelled at them, and that they got scared, because of things that were happening the previous months and years and that they started running away. The police caught up with them near pizza restaurant Mrvica and beat them up there”.

Office for KiM and Serbian List: Arrest of young men is a mirror of anti-Serb politics (KiM radio)

"The brutal arrest and beating of three young Serbs last night in North Mitrovica by members of the Kosovo police is a reflection of Albin Kurti's anti-Serb policy," reads the statement from the Office for Kosovo and Metohija and the Serbian List regarding the arrest in North Mitrovica last night, reported Kim radio.

The statement of the Office for KiM read that there is also unequivocal evidence - "filmed painful scenes where you can see how Kurti's police officers throw Serbian young men to the ground and beat and drag them for 10 minutes, while they cry, and then bring them in with long-barreled weapons".

"The fact that even the Serb who filmed the torture was taken into custody, in order to remove the traces and evidence of police brutality, which fortunately were preserved, also speaks of what kind of reign of terror, powerlessness, mistreatment and violation of rights we are talking about," added the statement of the Office for KiM.

It is particularly worrying, as it says, that the parents were not allowed to see their children, nor for the Serbian medical team to visit and examine them, considering that, the statement adds, "the young men were victims of proven police brutality."

"At the same time, according to eyewitnesses, Kurti's stewards were in civilian clothes and did not show identification, which is another proof that Kurti wants to turn the north of Kosovo and Metohija into a police-occupied territory, which Belgrade and the Serbs from the north of Kosovo and Metohija warn about every day, and the international community is silent, while the Serbian youth are beaten and detained, thus intimidating and disturbing all Serbs in these areas," concluded the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Serbian List: Brutality of the Kosovo police

On the arrest of Serbian youths in North Mitrovica, Serbian List announced that this is "proof of the brutality of the Kosovo police towards the Serbs, all under the direction of Albin Kurti, which has become an everyday occurrence in the north of Kosovo."

"It is not the first time that there is clear evidence of the brutality of Kurti's henchmen, and that there is no control by the Kosovo inspectorate, nor the reaction of international representatives to the institutional repression of the Serbian people''.

"This excessive use of force and the arrest of the young man was accompanied by beatings, humiliation and the threat of using automatic firearms on the city promenade in the strict center of North Mitrovica. You won't see such scenes anywhere else in Kosovo and Metohija, and this kind of inhumane and unprofessional treatment is obviously reserved for Serbs," the statement added.

According to SL, while international representatives appeal to the Serbs to remain calm and restrained, "Kurti seems to be using this to oppress the Serbs even more and test the patience and readiness to endurance of all of us."

The head of operations of the Kosovo police for the North region, Petrit Fejza, announced that the young men were ordered to be detained by order of the prosecutor.

The President of the Serbian Democracy, Aleksandar Arsenijevic, posted a video of the arrest on Facebook, in which one of the detainees can be heard crying for help.

Serbian Democracy condemns police violence against young men in North Mitrovica (KiM radio)

Serbian Democracy condemns the police violence against Serbian young men in North Mitrovica, as well as the failure to provide medical aid to the injured, reported KiM radio.

Serbian Democracy states that the police officers found it appropriate to physically harass and beat the young men because of the alleged "swearing".

However, just two days ago, during the visit of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveqla to North Mitrovica, the statement added that ''a police officer was swearing at the President of the Serbian Democracy, Aleksandar Arsenijevic".

"Thus, the police themselves set an example of how citizens should be treated in public space. When the police swear at the citizens, then nothing happens to anyone — and when the citizens swear back, they are immediately arrested, beaten, and detained for 48 hours? Brutal, almost mafia-like, retaliation followed only a few minutes after one of the young men allegedly "sweared" at a plainclothes police officer, who did not even have police insignia," it added.

Serbian Democracy reminds the public of the statement of the deputy commander of the Kosovo police for the North region, Veton Elshani, who said that the people are safe under the newly installed cameras in North Mitrovica and that thanks to the cameras, it will be known even whose car has been scratched. Therefore, the representatives of this political party demand that the videos of the alleged "physical attack" on the police be published.

They also condemn the fact that the police did not inform the parents about the condition of their children.

Representatives of the Serbian Democracy asked where the young man named Lekic was, who was arrested because he was filming the experiences of the police officers on the young men.

They also demand the immediate release of the arrested young men.

Vucevic: Arrest of four young Serbs is continuation of terror against Serbian people (RTV, Kosovo Online)

Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic said today the arrest of four young Serbs in Mitrovica North is “continuation of terror against Serbian population in Kosovo”, Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) reported.

He added three young Serbian men were beaten up by Kosovo police, while the fourth one who recorded the arrest was also arrested. Vucevic underlined that Pristina carries everyday repression against the Serbian people in Kosovo, in order to create an environment for them not to be able to stay there any longer.

Parent of one of arrested men: Excessive force for verbal contact (KoSSev, Kosovo Online)

KoSSev portal reported that parents of the four young Serbs arrested after midnight last night in Mitrovica North, were staying in front of the police station there ever since they heard that their children were arrested.

They said they do not receive information about their children, apart from being told that they were sent to Mitrovica South police station. They hired the lawyers, adding they think that Kosovo police, even if there was any dispute, used excessive force.

“It is hard. Brutal beating up of children. I have not seen my son, I was told he is in the southern part of the city. This is excessive force for verbal contact”, Nebojsa Jovic, father of one of the arrested persons, told KoSSev portal. He added, same as other parents, he is waiting for the decision of the prosecutor, hoping they will all be released and “are not tortured there”.

Ljubomir Milic, the father of a 19-year-old arrested young man, told Kosovo Online that the young men were arrested in a brutal manner.

“We have hit rock bottom when they started arresting our children in such a cruel way, based on the footage we have seen, which was recorded by our citizens. They heard our children’s cries for help,” Milic said.