Srpska Lista Deputy Chair Igor Simic told RTS the pressure on Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija would continue as parliamentary elections would approach.

Speaking for the RTS news edition, Simic noted arrests of the Serbs represent an attempt to create an artificial balance because the Special Court started summoning former KLA members. He added, Srpska Lista deemed the government in Pristina has fallen a year ago, when a series of acts aiming to intimidate the Serbs has commenced.

Basic Prosecution Office in Gnjilane has launched an investigation against two local Serbs suspected of espionage, Radio Free Europe reported on Friday. The two men, both school principals were arrested on July 10 at crossing point Bela Zemlja, after police found some documents in their car while they were travelling to the Serbian town of Vranje.

Serbian National Assembly Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Chairman Milovan Drecun told RTS that the latest arrest of two Serbs in Kosovo, school principals, is part of a well-planned and coordinated campaign of Tirana and Pristina, adding such cases of illegal arrests would continue.

Drecun also said he is not surprised “since it is one of the ways, used for many years, to pressure the Serbs to leave Kosovo and Metohija and those who were expelled not to come back”.

Srpska Lista (SL) in the strongest terms condemned the arrest of the two Serbs, school principals who dedicated their lives to raising and educating young people, adding they do not deserve the humiliating treatment they are exposed to, Radio kontakt plus reported.

Kosovo police said yesterday they arrested two Serbs over “espionage.”

Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija reacted to the arrest of two Serbs, Kosovo police accused of “espionage,” by saying that “campaign of intimidation of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija by arresting Serbs and holders of important public functions continues,” KoSSev portal reported.

The Office said the arrest of Primary School principal from Vitina T.T and Technical School principal in Vrbovac B.D “is the most flagrant example of legal violence that reputable Serbs are being exposed to more frequently.”

Defense lawyers of the Serbs arrested at the end of November as per Pristina prosecution order in relation to the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, voiced dissatisfaction over the course of the investigation, since as they claim, they are denied access to the case files, and they are not familiar what concrete acts their clients are charged with, Radio KIM reports.

The three arrested Serbs are currently in detention in Podujevo.

Milena Perovic-Milojkovic and Milos Ivkovic, arrested by Kosovo police in the village of Medregovac were released on Sunday, KIM Radio reports.

They spent the night at the police station in Podujevo. Following the hearing at the Basic Court in Podujevo, they were released.

Kosovo police arrested them on Saturday, over allegedly illegal crossing of administrative line.

Serbian List deputy leader Igor Simic told RTS that the Serbs, arrested in a Kosovo police unit Rosu raid on Friday, are being kept in a high security prison.

Simic also said that representatives of the emergency HQ (in Mitrovica North) have spoken with the families of the four Serbs and their lawyers.

Defence lawyers of the four arrested Serbs held a press conference in the premises of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija in Mitrovica North on Saturday evening.

During the conference, lawyer Dejan A. Vasic said that the four Serbs arrested in Mitrovica North on Friday were not charged with the murder. All four were sentenced to 30-day detention and would be placed in the high-risk prison in Podujevo. The lawyers of the arrested persons will file an appeal on Monday for all four Serbs and seek the termination of the detention.

The recent arrests of Serbs in Kosovo are part of the pressure on the local Serbs, Serbian Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told Belgrade based TV Prva on Thursday, reports Serbian media.

According to the minister, the Serbs are being pressured into accepting the forming of a Kosovo military and into considering whether there is room for them in Kosovo.