Serbian authorities have handed over the released Kosovo police officers to Pristina. This came after the decision of the Kraljevo High Court in central Serbia to release the three Kosovo officers who were arrested on 14 June on suspicion of crossing the administrative line between Serbia and Kosovo.
With this decision, the three Kosovo policemen against whom the preliminary panel of the Kraljevo High Court confirmed the indictment and lifted their detention, were allowed to return to their home country on Monday afternoon.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic earlier said that those people had nothing to do on Serbian soil. President Vucic added that they were in Serbia by 1.8 kms, as earlier reported by our paper. With this, Belgrade fulfilled Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s request and released the Kosovo police officers.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has just informed me that Serbian authorities will soon release from detention the three Kosovo policemen detained earlier, as per my request at our meeting last week,
PM Orban wrote on Facebook on Monday morning.
We appreciate President Vucic's action at this challenging time. This step is a clear demonstration of the deep friendship between the Serbian and Hungarian nations and of the strategic cooperation between the two countries,
the premier wrote in his post.
The international community also welcomed Belgrade’s step. EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said that deescalation must continue. He also called for new municipal elections without delay in the northern part of Kosovo and the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities.
I welcome that the Serbian authorities released the 3 previously arrested Kosovo policemen from custody. Deescalation must continue, new municipal elections need to be organised w/out delay & dialogue AGs need to be implemented incl. establishing Ass. of Serb Majority Municipalities.
Mr Varhelyi wrote on Twitter.
Richard Grenell, the former special presidential envoy for Serbia and Kosovo peace negotiations, wrote that “we must now have immediate international unity to pressure [Albin Kurti] to remove his special forces from government buildings” of towns populated by Serbs. He also wrote: “The fears from the people of North Mitrovica are real,”
They feel harassed and targeted – their hospitals don’t have enough supplies,
he added on Twitter.
Grenell also described it as pathetic that the representatives of the European Union and Joe Biden’s administration has not visited the region.
it’s sad and pathetic -
but no US or EU official has been to North Mitrovica since this latest crisis began, he wrote.
Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti has also responded to the case of the detained and released policemen. The politician expressed his joy that they get to return to their families, but still considered their detention an abduction and wrote that the Serbian aggression must be held accountable.
On Monday afternoon, Alexandar Vucic had a phone conversation about the situation in Kosovo with US Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken. Mr Blinken also called for deescalation and added that Washington supports the European plan for that.
Serbia behaves seriously and responsibly, but the special forces of the Kosovo police arrest members of the Serbian people completely arbitrarily every day,
Mr Vucic wrote on Instagram.
Cover photo: US soldiers of the NATO-led Kosovo peacekeeping force KFOR stand guard in front of the town hall in Leposavic on 2 June 2023 (Photo: MTI/EPA/Georgy Litsovski)
