Serbs announced Lajcak: It happened in Merdare with the seizure of referendum material, arrest

The so-called Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia has announced Friday evening that at the Merdare border point between Kosovo and Serbia, an official of the Republic Election Commission has been detained, which has attempted to import election materials in Kosovo for the upcoming referendum in Serbia, which will be held on 16 January.

According to the announcement, the co-ordinator of this Commission, Marko Jankovic, was accompanied by two trucks carrying election material, about what “was announced by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSBE) in Kosovo”.

Among other things in the report is said to have confiscated the two trucks and arrested the Commission's official, as well as truck drivers.

The announcement also said that the Commission official has been sent “in an unknown direction”.

As Klan Kosova reported from the site of the event, there are four Serbs detained at the Merdara border checkpoint who have been sent to the maintenance station at Podujevo's uluhan police station. Also sent to this police station were the two trucks with which the material was being carried for the Serbian referendum, which has been warned about Sunday.

European officials are said to have been notified on this issue.

Ox0 session The SEU in Kosovo was obliged tonight to take over the electoral material in line with its mandate on the ground, but also the willingness to organise the referendum, which we have announced with a letter of December 22nd last year. However, tonight the OSCE mission, not only has it not taken over the referendum material, but it has not been submitted to Merdare, where it has had to get the material, as it has been done every time so far in previous election processes”, mentioned in the announcement.

Kosovo Police and O The SEU has not yet been approved in connection with these developments.

Otherwise, Kosovo institutions have said on Friday that opening Serbia's polling stations in Kosovo constitutes violations of the constitution and Kosovo laws.

They said Kosovo Serb citizens, with dual states, could vote for the referendum in Serbia according to international practices, which in this case, according to them, imply possibilities through the post or liaison office in Pristina.

Earlier on January 14th, officials from France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union have said they have regretted accepting the Kosovo government's decision not to allow O The SEU to collect votes in Kosovo for the referendum in Serbia. They called on the Kosovo government to allow Serbs in Kosovo to exercise their right to vote in elections and election processes in line with this established practice.

The leaders of the presidency, Government and Assembly of Kosovo have called on Quint countries to apply the same standards in relation to Kosovo as to any other state, considering that its independence has been recognised by many democratic countries in the world.

The referendum on changes in Serbia's Constitution will be held on Sunday, January 16th.

The changes concern the judiciary, and Serbia has been tasked with the European Union membership process. As EU representatives have consistently explained, the goal of changing Serbia's Constitution is to achieve an independent judiciary, without political influence and rule of law.