Kosovo demands the transfer of Albanians who are being held in Serbia

2024-07-01 16:00:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Kosovo demands the transfer of Albanians who are being held in Serbia

Minister of Justice of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu. Source, Prime Minister's Office

The Minister of Justice of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, said on Monday that she has requested through a letter last week to her Serbian counterpart the transfer of the citizens of Kosovo, who are being held in custody in Serbia.

Four citizens of Kosovo are currently in detention in Serbia under charges of war crimes: Nezir Mehmetaj, Hasan Dakaj, Sadik Duraku and Tefik Mustafa.

"As you know, such claims and any subsequent legal action is exclusively related to the jurisdiction of the country where these alleged acts occurred. In this direction, Nezhir Mehmetaj, Hasan Dakaj, Sadik Duraku and Tefik Mustafa, must be returned to the Republic of Kosovo to be judged fairly, in an impartial manner, by the authority that has been equipped with the jurisdiction recognized by public international law ”, says Haxhiu's letter to the Serbian Minister of Justice, Maja Popovic, on June 28, 2024.

But in Serbia's National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy, 2021-2026, the Serbian state claims it has jurisdiction to bring justice to crimes committed during armed conflicts in the 1990s.

It mentions that the Office of the Prosecutor for War Crimes has created groups of data processors according to the territorial principle, "that is, following the connections of the cases with the place where the criminal offense was committed - in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Republic of Croatia, in Kosovo" .

Radio Free Europe sent questions to the Ministry of Justice of Serbia regarding Haxhiu's letter, but did not receive a response until the publication of this news.

Kosovo and Serbia have reached an Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in 2013, with the mediation of the European Union, but there has been almost no cooperation between them in cases of war crimes.

Earlier, the Kosovar authorities described as arbitrary and unjust the arrest of Kosovar citizens in Serbia on charges of war crimes. They have requested the help of the international factor for their release.

Nezir Mehmetaj was arrested in 2020 in Merdare - one of the border points between Kosovo and Serbia. No decision has been made regarding him yet, despite dozens of sessions held.

His brother, Agron Mehmetaj, told Radio Free Europe that he never risked visiting him in Serbia, as he does not trust the authorities there.

Hasan Dakaj, a former member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), was also detained in Merdare, in January 2024.

His lawyer, Xhevdet Smakiqi, told Radio Free Europe that Dakaj's detention was carried out on political grounds and that there are factual errors.

Sadik Duraku was arrested on April 17 of this year, at a border point between Serbia and Croatia. His detention was recently extended for another 30 days.

His brother, Avdyl Duraku, has told Radio Evropa e Lire that the accusations against Sadik Duraku are fabricated.

Tefik Mustafa is the latest on this list. He was arrested on June 1 in Merdare.

His son, Qamil Mustafa, told Radio Free Europe that the accusations against his father are unfounded.

The family members of the detainees - except for Dakaj - repeatedly state that the detainees in Serbia were not in Kosovo at all during the war.

The US Department of State has called for a fair legal process for the persons arrested in Serbia on charges of war crimes.

The work of the Serbian Prosecutor's Office has been criticized in the past.

According to the Fund for Humanitarian Law in Serbia, the lack of transparency and the lack of information – which should be publicly accessible – have excluded the public from these processes.

The lack of witnesses was also mentioned in the last report of this organization. According to him, the Prosecution has not been able to provide any key witness for more than two years in war crimes cases.

In the Progress Report for Serbia, for 2023, the European Commission has mentioned that "the pace of judging war crimes in Serbia has worsened in recent years" and that real commitment must be shown to solving the cases./ REL