Incident at Skopje airport/ The security employee tries to take Vjosa Osman's phone

2024-08-01 21:29:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Incident at Skopje airport/ The security employee tries to take Vjosa

The President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani

An incident was recorded with the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, at Skopje International Airport.

It is reported that the security of this airport tried to take the President's personal phone.

Bekim Kupina, Media Adviser at the Presidency, has indicated that Osmani opposed this action, but was pushed by the airport employee.

"Contrary to international practices and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the Skopje Airport security tried to take the President's personal phone. The president did not allow such a thing, because it would be a serious violation. Despite the explanation of the rules that the President's team made known to the airport official, he tried to physically push the President, in which case the Kosovo Police was forced to react to open the way", said Kupina to the media in Kosovo.

He emphasized that despite the fact that Osmani informed him about the violation of the law, the employee took his personal bag.

"This behavior of the Macedonian airport official is contrary to all international practices, according to which when heads of state travel, they are protected by diplomatic privileges and immunities. In violation of these rules, the Macedonian side has taken the personal handbag of the president. Although this was against the rules, the President's team allowed it so that the President could enter the airport, specifically in the VIP lounge, which was reserved with a verbal note from our Embassy, ??as is the practice for the trips of heads of state. However, for security reasons, it was not allowed to hand over the personal phone in any way", underlined Kupina.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia also reacted to this incident.

"Around 10:00 a.m. at Skopje International Airport, while President Osmani was going through border control, at the moment when she was asked to put her phone through the scanner, a person from her security left the TAV employee, in order to for her to pass without a scanned phone and carry-on luggage.

But then the luggage was turned around and passed through a scanner. After half an hour, a person from the security of the President of the Assembly Gashi (policeman) came with two other people (policemen) and started threatening TAV workers and asking who caused the problem to the president. At the same time, he also pushed a police officer who was working at the border point", the statement says.

Furthermore, the Macedonian MIA said that immediately after that, the Department for Internal Control, Criminal Investigations and Professional Standards was notified and that measures are being taken to clarify the case./ CNA