Five Serbs from Kosovo, otherwise members of the MUP of Serbia, were arrested at administrative crossings with Kosovo from Friday, she announced Office for Kosovo and Metohija.
KoSSev writes that the three were deported to the territory of central Serbia and that the series of arrests of Serbian police officers from Kosovo followed the arrest of Arbnor Spahiju, a former member of the KLA and the Kosovo Special Police, in Serbia on June 7, suspected of aggravated murder in the "Banjska" case.
His arrest caused sharp reactions from Pristina, and the current situation is interpreted as potential retaliation for that case or pressure for the release of Spahiju, reports KoSSev.
The Kosovo authorities justify arrests and expulsions with the Law on Citizenship, according to which residents of Kosovo who engage in activities that "threaten national security", or are members of the police force or intelligence service of "another country", and do not have the consent of the authorities or there is no international agreement for this - "lose the right to citizenship of the Republic of Kosovo".
When making the decision on deportation, it was precisely these allegations that the outgoing Kosovo minister, Dzheljalj Svečlja, referred to.
Petković: Kurti's madness
Petar Petković, acting director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, reacted to the arrest and expulsion of Serbian policemen.
"I just heard from Milan Zlatanović, an honest Serb, the father of three children, whose family, house and everything he has is in Kosovo. Kurti deported him today, as well as his colleagues Aleksandar, Nikola and Mladen, who were illegally deported yesterday and with whom we are also in contact."
All "expelled Serbs", he says, are provided with free legal aid.
"This foolishness of Kurti has serious consequences!" Petković concluded on the X social network.
According to his statements, a certain Aleksandar was also deported. In the first announcement about the arrests, it was stated that AM (36), a member of the MUP of Serbia, was detained at the Končulj crossing. However, no more details about this person have been given in the past two days, and deportation has been confirmed for three people so far.
Gogić: Pseudo-legal savagery
Political scientist Ognjen Gogić in his author's text for KoSSev assesses that the expulsion of Serbian policemen from Kosovo is "a level of pseudo-legal savagery that you can rarely see anywhere".
"It is true that there is a legal basis for revocation of citizenship. Citizenship can be revoked if a person has another citizenship and acts against national security, which may include working for foreign security services. In theory, therefore, such a possibility exists, but it is far from the fact that such a decision can be made expressly at the discretion of the minister. The legal path is longer and more demanding," writes Gogić.
He adds that, "even if there is a basis for depriving citizenship, it does not mean that the minister can arbitrarily decide who to deport."
"How did he even know that these people worked in Serbia, for whom, and in what jobs? What kind of information does he have and was it obtained in a legal way? If there really are security risks, why haven't appropriate proceedings been initiated against those people? If they did something illegal, how is it that the first measure applied against them is the deprivation of all rights?", Gogić asks, and adds that "the answer is clear".
"Legal proceedings require time and evidence, and this way everything is solved with a shortcut."
"If and when a decision to revoke citizenship is made, it must be individualized and proportionate. It deeply encroaches on basic human rights, including the right to home, freedom of movement and legal security. The fact that such decisions were made serially, overnight, against several persons from the same ethnic community, and without any transparent procedure, clearly shows that it is an abuse of authority and ethnically motivated reckoning and persecution," concludes Gogić.
Sources: KoSSev