REL: Serbian police order for the arrest of Kosovo policeman, "very unreal"

Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs has not responded to Radio Free Europe's question on whether it will request the issuance of an international arrest warrant by Interpol for Kosovo policeman, Dylot Brahimi.

Serbian police have issued a warrant for his arrest following an incident in North Mitrovica during a Serb community high school graduation party.

Predrag Petrović, from the Center for Security Policy in Belgrade (BCBP), told Radio Free Europe that this order is a political and propaganda act.

"Its purpose is to send a message to the Serbian public that the state of Serbia and the institutions supposedly care about the safety of Serbs in Kosovo," he said.

However, Petrovic adds that the arrest of the Kosovar policeman is "very, very unreal".

On May 24, Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that Brahim would be arrested "whenever he is accessible to the Serbian authorities, without a statute of limitations".

A day later, Serbia's Minister of Internal Affairs, Ivica Dacic, stated on Prva television that the arrest warrant is important as an institutional reaction.

"The moment he becomes accessible to the Serbian state authorities, he will be arrested," Dacic said.

According to Petrović, in practice this means that a Kosovo Police officer can only be arrested if he is on the territory of Serbia – which, according to him, is very unlikely.

The director of the Kosovo Police, Gazmend Hoxha, described the arrest warrant issued by the Serbian authorities as "in the wake of the persecution of Kosovo policemen".

"We have had cases where our police officers have been arrested in Serbia. We answer only to our courts, but not to the Serbian authorities," Hoxha said on May 25, during a press conference.

In April 2024, the Serbian authorities detained the deputy director of the Kosovo Police from the Serb community, Dejan Jankovic, along with four other police officials. The next day, they were released, while Kosovar authorities said Jankovic had been charged with "violating Serbia's constitutional order".

Serbia does not recognize Kosovo's independence, but through the mediation of the European Union it has been involved in talks on the normalization of relations with official Pristina.

Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora announced that Serbian authorities detained Gramos Agusholli, a former Vetevendosje MP, on May 26 while he was in transit to Slovenia at the border crossing in Merdare.

The MFA has described the arrest as "arbitrary" and has requested the reaction of the international community. Meanwhile, the Serbian authorities have not given any public comment on the case.

A few hours later, the Ministry announced that he had been released.

Some accuse the policeman of reacting selectively and using excessive force, while others say he acted to prevent a possible escalation of the situation.

According to videos circulating on social media, a group of high school graduates from the Serb community were celebrating the end of the school year with a parade through the city center, when a policeman stopped one of them because, reportedly, he had provoked people in a local café nearby.

In the video, the policeman can be seen putting his hand on the high school graduate's neck, while those present ask him to let go, saying that the young man had done nothing.

It is precisely this gesture – holding a hand on the young man's neck – that has sparked reactions, being described as an excessive use of force.

In other videos, it can be seen that during the parade, the high school graduate had pointed his middle finger at the café, from where a person allegedly made the symbol of the two-headed eagle with his hands - symbol of the Albanian flag.

Radio Free Europe has not been able to verify the accuracy of the footage, the time of filming or who started the incident.

Kosovo police have denied that there was violence during their intervention, but said they have launched an investigation against one of their officials involved in the incident.

The director of the Kosovo Police, Gazmend Hoxha, told a press conference on Sunday that the police officer will be investigated by the Kosovo Police Inspectorate and that, after the incident, he was transferred to the police station in South Mitrovica from North Mitrovica.

Kosovo's Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, also said that the police acted professionally to prevent the situation from escalating, as some high school graduates had used nationalist symbols and chants such as "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia".

The head of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), Giovanni Pietro Barbano, has condemned the excessive use of force by the police.

Lista Srpska, the largest Belgrade-backed Serb party in Kosovo, has called for an investigation and punishment for police officers who have exceeded their powers.

Police officers from the Serb community left Kosovo institutions in November 2022, as part of an organised exodus. At first, they were mainly replaced by Albanian police officers, while later about 100 new officials from the Serb community and that of other minorities were recruited./REL