Serbia reacts after former Minister Todosijevic's sentence

Todosijevic had declared in March 2019 that the “reasons for NATO's aggression has been the so-called humanitarian catastrophe in Kosovo and the fabricated massacre of Recak”.

The director of the Office for Kosovo in Serbia's Government, Petar Petkovovic, has said the sentence against Todosijevic is the shameful “, ethnically and politically motivated”. According to him, the indictment has shown that Serbs in Kosovo are denied freedom of speech and that Kosovo authorities are actually spreading “happiness and racial, religious and ethnic intolerance against Serbs”.

“There is no doubt that this bias is carefully calculated in Pristina, with the aim of causing new tensions and crisis among the Serbian people, especially in the north of the province, because no Serb in Kosovo and Metohija can look forward to this kind of revenge, against one of them”, Petkovic said, Rel.

He has called on Serbs not to fall to the presumption “and remain calm.

Random chronology

Todosijevic's statement coincided with the 20th anniversary of the start of NATO bombings in the limits of the former Yugoslav Army campaigning that ended the war in Kosovo.

He at the time held the post of Minister of Administration and Local Self-Government in the Government of Kosovo, but was dismissed by then Kosovo Government Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj.

He was originally sentenced to two years in prison by the Constitutional Court in Pristina, but the Supreme Court of Kosovo had turned the case into retrial at the end of December last year.

Recak's massacre is known as one of the events that has marked a turn in international diplomacy in relation to Serbia and Kosovo, preceded processes that led to the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia's military targets.

The killing of 45 Albanian civilians by Serb paramilitary forces in Recak was named “crime against humanity” by former head of the Verifiating Mission in Kosovo Ambassador William Walker.

In parliamentary elections held in Kosovo in February 2021, Todosijevic received voter support and was elected one of the ten deputies of the Serbian List.

It also holds the position of Zvecan chairman within the framework of Serb parallel structures in Kosovo.

He was delayed to serve the prison sentence twice in 2021: the first time because “was abroad” and the second time for “health reasons”.

Todosijevic has had to appear for the first time to serve a prison sentence on October 6, 2021.

In some cases, Todosijevic is “protected” from the Serbian List, which has threatened to resign from institutions if he gets an almighty sentence.

Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, often comes to his defense.

He mentioned Todosijevic even on 13 September, when he told MPs about dialogue with Kosovo.

I want to remind you of Ivan Todosijevich... sentenced to two years because he said Racan was a fraud. I said that same same day. I want to take sides with freedom of expression of thought”, Vuciq has said, adding that Serbs in Kosovo do not have freedom of expression, and that they face indictment “hidden or public”.