For some Serb representatives, transition to Serbia becomes difficult

Following MP and president of the Independent Liberal Party, Slobodan Petrovic, who had been detained long ago on Thursday, Serbian authorities have detained another official of this party.

Nebojsa Jakovljevic, adviser to the Ministry of Labour and Social Management in the Government of Kosovo, has been detained for several hours and questioned.

Kosovo's ombudsman, Hilmi Jashari, told Radio Free Europe, that such bans of citizens without a warrant from any institution of order or justice system represent human rights violations.

“International standards are highly decidatory in terms of similar situations, and there are many standards that implement different international mechanisms. No such ban would have to be made, especially if it is exclusively a court decision authorizing such a task stop”.

“Whatever other ban is considered an arbitrary decision and affecting freedom of movement and freedom of person, and as such, is contrary to international standards applied for the Council of Europe region and states that are members, in this case Serbia, which since 2004, is part of the international mechanisms for human rights protection”, Jashar said.

According to him, for these cases, Kosovo institutions can file complaints at the Committee for Protection Against Torture in the Council of Europe, or even at the Commission for Protection of Human Rights, but at the Council of Europe.

The Independent Liberal Party is led by Slobodan Petrovic, the only one of the 10 Serb deputies in the Kosovo Assembly, who does not belong to the Serbian List, the subject having Belgrade's direct support. Even Petrovic, on December 8th, has been banned and interviewed for more than four hours in Merdare.

In a statement to Radio Free Europe, Petrovic said this is not the first time Liberal Party members are detained at the border crossing, and, according to him, it's about “maltation of political those who think differently”.

This is a political pressure, and for this reason, they act this way. This should be judged in any form. It should eventually be brought to the streets this way of torturing people, especially those chosen by citizens. Jakovljevic left in the morning with his child to the hospital, where there was a scheduled checkup at 10: 00 p.m. Meanwhile, it was detained at 4am”, Petrovic suggested.

He added that in this regard, he will meet representatives of the international community in Kosovo.

Kosovo Government Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has also reacted by demanding that Serbian authorities ban such practices.

Prime Minister Haradinaj ban on Merdare by Serbia's authorities in Nebojsa Jakovljevic has condemned and named it a “unacceptable and punishable” decision.

Kosovo's “government strongly condemns this form of pressure and threats on Serbia's part to citizens of the Kosovo Serb community. The move, not alone nor isolated, but is part of an orchestrated Serbian power campaign to directly threaten our country's security”, the prime minister of Kosovo has said.

Last week, also in Merdare, it has been banned and the deputy chairman of the Independent Liberal Party and Deputy Culture Minister of the Government of Kosovo Boban Stankovic has been questioned.

During the summer of 2018, Serb members of the Kosovo Security Force have also faced such problems. Some of them have later abandoned the KSF ranks, which was considered a consequence of pressure from official Belgrade.