The authorities of the “Republic of Kosovo” began to release detained Serbs
Student from Belgrade Nikola Nedeljkovic, detained in Kosovo at the end of June 2022, was released and left the territory of the region.
A court in Pristina also ordered the house arrest of former police officer Dejan Pantic, whose detention prompted the installation of barricades in northern Kosovo and Metohija, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
On the morning of December 28, 20-year-old Belgrade student Nikola Nedeljkovic, captured by the police of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosovo” on Vidovdan, June 28, 2022, and sentenced to one year in prison for a T-shirt with the Serbian flag, was released.
At the Mutivoda checkpoint on the administrative border of Kosovo and Metohija with central Serbia, he was met by his family - father, mother and sister, who brought Nikola a new T-shirt with a map of Kosovo and Metohija and the inscription “Nema predaje!” (We won't get along). Let us remind you that the Football Union of Serbia was fined by FIFA for a flag with such an image in the dressing room of the Serbian national team at the World Cup in Qatar.
Also on December 28, the court in Pristina decided to place under house arrest former policeman Dejan Pantic, whose detention on December 10 was the last straw that overwhelmed the patience of the Kosovo Serbs, who set up and hold barricades in the north of the region. However, Pantic has still not been brought home to Kosovo Mitrovica, because the road to this city from the police base next to the Jarine checkpoint is blocked by barricades.
It is noteworthy that the court’s decision in Pristina was publicly supported by the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Kosovo, Viola von Cramon, while the authorities of the “Republic of Kosovo” expressed strong displeasure. In particular, “Kosovo Prime Minister” Albin Kurti said that he was “surprised” by the decision to place the “accused of terrorism” under house arrest, and publicly expressed doubts about the impartiality of the prosecutor and judge in this case. And the ruling Self-Determination party in the “Republic of Kosovo,” led by Kurti, called the court’s decision to send Dejan Pantic under house arrest “an act of betrayal.”
The director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petkovic, said that Belgrade has received more serious guarantees than ever from the US and the EU that the demands of the Kosovo Serbs, because of which citizens erected barricades, will be met. Petkovic also added that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will fly by helicopter to the administrative border with the southern region this evening to talk with the Kosovo Serbs and convince them to remove the barricades.
Authorities in the "Republic of Kosovo" have begun releasing detained Serbs.