EULEX reacts to Serbia over claims not allowed to intervene in Banjska

The mission of the European Union for the Rule of Law in Kosovo (EULEX) dismissed Serbian officials' claims that they were not allowed to participate in the police operation on 24 September in Banjska, after Kosovo police were attacked.

“EULEX has by no means been prevented from participating or monitoring operations conducted by Kosovo Police on 24 September”, Free Europe Radio from this European bloc mission.

Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, and Kosovo's chief of office in the Serbian government, Petar Petkoviq, have said Kosovo did not allow it EULEX to participate in the police operation after an armed group attacked the Kosovo Police in Zvecan Banjsk.

Vuciq during a meeting with QUINT and European Union representatives on 26 September, said he has asked them why “EULEX has been refused to take part in the operation in the north.

After the attack on the Kosovo Police and later the police intervention, the mobile patrols of the EULEX police unit and the reserve police unit, but other EULEX staff members have been in close contact with the Kosovo Police and have gone to the area around the Banjsca monastery in northern Kosovo”, EULEX said.

This mission added that they have been monitoring the police operation closely and have been in close contact with the Kosovo Police and NATO peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR.

The masked and armed group that, according to authorities in Kosovo, consisted of about 30 people initially attacked the Kosovo Police in Banjska, as order authorities launched an action to remove a barricade on the street.

Later, the attackers took refuge in the Banjsca monastery, and from there they clashed all day long with police officials. As a result of the shootout, three suspected attackers have been killed.

Both Vuciq and Petkovovic have claimed that two Serbs were killed after they surrendered and have demanded that EULEX be involved in investigations and that this mission mediates allowing Serbian investigators to perform the autopsy of the slain attackers.

This EU mission did not show whether it has accepted such a request from Serbia, but said there is no “executive mandate to conduct investigations”.

“Mission has monitored and will continue to monitor activities carried out by authorities in Kosovo related to the attack, such as investigations, seizures and raids. In line with the mandate they have and with Kosovo legislation, EULEX representatives were present during the autopsy's performance, in the quality of monitors”, said EULEX's response.

Kosovo has blamed Serbia for the attack on Banjska, which it describes as a terrorist attack and has sought to conduct an international investigation into the event. Serbia has denied that it is involved in this event.

The attack has been strongly condemned by the United States and the European Union. / REL