Court finds legal conditions met, DW: One month detention for four Serbs arrested in Kosovo

Serbian authorities reacted angrily after the arrest of two groups of Serbs in Kosovo over the weekend. There were also reactions from the Diocese of Raska and Prizren. A court in the city of Gjakova approved the request of the Prosecutor's Office and ordered 30 days of detention for four Serbian Serbs due to "suspicion based on complicity in the criminal offense of unauthorized ownership, control or possession of weapons."

In addition to the four suspects in Gjakova, who according to Kosovo security authorities are suspected of having links to Serbian security structures, police detained 12 other Serbs in Prizren over the weekend.

The court finds that the legal conditions have been met.

Regarding the four Serbs arrested in Gjakova, the Prosecution said that the suspects with the initials BR, NV, PK, MS, had carried cold weapons during their visit to some of the Orthodox monasteries in Kosovo. "These actions form a well-founded suspicion that the defendants with the initials BR, NV, PK, MS, have committed the criminal offense of unauthorized ownership, control or possession of weapons under Article 366 par. 1 in conjunction with Article 31 of the Criminal Code", the Prosecution said. Therefore, this request was approved by the pre-trial judge, who assessed that "the legal conditions for imposing a detention measure on the defendants have been met, since, if they were to be found at large, there is a risk of repetition of the criminal offense as well as a risk of flight".

Kosovo's acting Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, after the arrest of 16 Serbs in two separate operations, said that among them were "active officers of the Serbian security services". "According to initial data, it is suspected that these groups aimed to collect information on potential targets, as evidence of connections with Serbian military intelligence structures as well as members of the Banjska terrorist group has been found," Sveçla wrote.

In the Banjska case, an indictment has been filed in Kosovo against about 40 people, including their leader Milan Radoićić. Only three of these people are being held in custody in Kosovo, while the others, according to Kosovo security agencies, remain at large in Serbia. The first hearing for the three members of the Banjska group who are being held in custody will be held on April 17.

Vučić: This shows what terror is continuing against Serbs

Serbian authorities reacted angrily to the arrest of two groups of Serbs in Kosovo over the weekend and, according to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, "the detained persons went to Kosovo only to visit the Theological Seminary and monasteries around Prizren."

"Imagine, some of these people say they are also members of the security structures, and then they are found, they say, a knife and a broken axe. It is completely clear that they are not used for anything other than some private use and personal needs. And this shows what terror is going on against Serbs," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

Meanwhile, the Office for Kosovo in the Serbian government announced regarding the 12 arrested in Prizren that two of them, with the initials LS and SR, are currently being held in custody in Kosovo, while the others, after questioning by the police, have been released and returned to Serbia.

Regarding the four Serbs arrested in Gjakova, to whom the court ordered a 30-day detention measure, according to the acting Minister of Interior of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, during the search of their car, "photographs with the map of the Republic of Kosovo, photographs of terrorists killed during the attack in Banjska" were found. Meanwhile, regarding the second group that was arrested in Prizren, Minister Sveçla said that "the fact that the second group that was detained in Prizren, and that was sheltered in the Bogoslavia Orthodox Seminary, may indicate an attempt to use religious institutions for camouflage or to cause interethnic/religious tensions in Kosovo, using fabricated events to incite violent reactions or riots."

Minister Sveçla's statements were opposed by the Diocese of Raska and Prizren. It said that "the Church cannot have knowledge of who all the pilgrims who participate in the services or even in this seminar are". "Any insinuation that the mentioned persons, while staying in the guest section of the seminar, allegedly used 'the religious institution to mask and incite interethnic and religious tensions in Kosovo', as stated in the Kosovo Police statement, is completely irresponsible and not based on concrete facts", said the Diocese of Raska and Prizren. /DW