Kelmendi tells how Serbian BIA interviewed in going and going back from Belgrade

Kosovo's journalist and director of the Adriatic Kelmendi, has shown how it happened to be interviewed by the Serbian BIA in Belgrade, where in the quality of the public audience of regional reconciliation was part of the XIV Forum for Transitional Justice in post-Yugoslav countries.

“Forum is held this time in Belgrade, usually held in different capitals and cities of states that have emerged from the former Yugoslavia. It has also been held in Pristina, several times it has been in Sarajevo, until it has been held in Zagreb, Podgorica, Slovenia, Skopje, thus everywhere. Because of the pandemic, it had not been held for a long time, and this time it was held in Belgrade”.

“has long been reluctant to travel to Serbia, but it was the very high level of representation, and I was invited to the panel where former Croatian leader Ivo Josipovic, former chairman of the Montenegrin Assembly Ranko Krivokapiq, the leader of the opposition protests against Milosevic Vesna Pesic, Kosovo activist and popular doctor Vjosa Dobrou, Albanian MP in the Parliament of Serbia Shaip Kamberi, and was the greatest desire of the main organiser Natasa Ká, who is among the largest human activists and the rights of the current 30 years. I was thinking that maybe the procedure would be simpler in a more frequent place and that maybe I won't have the trouble I've had and reported to Kosovo to security institutions (internal Affairs Ministry) directly, even though it hasn't become public”.

Kelmendi, in Klan Kosova, has shown how the whole process of interviewing him took place at the airport when he arrived in Belgrade and also on his return.

I handed my passport to the police on Friday in search. The policeman received the passport, which this time was Albania's, because I have it from Kosovo and Albania, and then something came up on the monitor. The police's reaction was to swear in Serbian and said “where this happened to me and now I have to deal with it”. He told me he had to wait, and the others behind me in line were told to continue with the other officers, because that piece of control had been closed”.

“Ma demanded that she re-enlist her passport and went to the back door that wrote Dhaga Police in Belgrade, inside the airport, and stayed there for a few minutes. He came back, I was standing there in front of the glass and I spoke to him in English and asked him what was going on. He pretended not to listen to me and didn't answer. It's 10 minutes back and I'm waiting. Someone once came by the back door and asked me if I speak Serbian and said I should ask some questions. He asked me why I went and told him that I was invited to a forum, told me who I am with, and told me that I am alone, but who are the other participants. He asked me where I'm staying, how long I'm staying, what my role is at this forum and he asked when I'm coming back. I told him I had to come back on Sunday, then he asked me how I'm gonna get back, and I got a return ticket. He got the return ticket. All the time, the policeman took notes of what I said and said he should wait a little longer. He went back and came back after about 40 minutes, brought me the papers and told me you can continue. They were both in a police uniform. Initially, the policeman on the screen called someone on the phone and apparently asked him what to do and got some instructions, but I couldn't hear it completely”.

The same thing happened in return. I handed over the passport, sealed it, and the announcement appeared on the screen. This time there was a Serbian policeman. When the announcement was issued, he didn't speak to me for five minutes and then asked “are you a citizen of ours? I told him he has my passport and he sees whose citizen I am. He asked me if I have other documents, and I showed him I have a Kosovo passport. Míi asked the same questions and requested the same documents. She also called someone and received instructions. My papers, along with the ticket, went to photocopy. This procedure lasted about 40 minutes, until I already notified journalist Idro Seferi that I had met the day before and told him about my experience and told him that I was stopped again and that if I didn't call him in an hour to announce that I could be arrested”.