Serbian Official: 555 Ethnically Motivated Incidents Since Kurti Took Office

Kosovska Mitrovica (BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC)

The director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, stated on Oct. 30 that 555 ethnically motivated incidents had been registered since Kosovo Premier Albin Kurti took office, and that there had been no activity of the European Union’s mission (EULEX) on protecting the Serbs.



He said that the laws the official Belgrade adopts to support the Serb people in Kosovo had no connection with the obligations from the Brussels dialogue, but were, in his words, a direct consequence of and response to the oppression of the Serbs by the authorities in Pristina. He added that the laws were a consequence of the “absence of visible action by the EULEX mission to protect the Serb people, secure the rule of law and prevent a humanitarian disaster” caused by “Kurti’s unilateral moves and violence against the Serbs.”



He requested the EU to answer several questions, including those about the closing of Serbia’s institutions, arrests of the Serbs, banning of payment traffic in dinars, instead of being “guided by the policy of double standards.”



“Had there been any rule of law, had the Serbs had any legal security, had the EULEX mission fulfilled the task entrusted to them, had anyone been held accountable for the shootings, arresting and beatings of the Serbs, the law passed by the state organs of Serbia would not have been needed,” Petkovic stated. He added that the Serbs’ subsistence was in jeopardy, which was why the law on welfare benefits and transfers (adopted by the Serbian government) was necessary.