Kosovo Protests Over Serbian ‘War Crimes’ Arrest
By Arben Qirezi
Pristina’s foreign ministry sent a protest note to Belgrade after the second arrest of a Kosovo Albanian in recent weeks, as Serbia released a police director who was held for over a month.
Kosovo’s foreign ministry sent a note of protest to the Serbian authorities on Tuesday over the arrest of Hilmi Kelmendi, a Kosovo Albanian resident of Germany, who it said had been held on war crimes charges.
Kelmendi, who was a member of the Kosovo Liberation Army during the 1998-99 war, was arrested on Saturday.
His brother, Selman Kelmendi, told BIRN that his brother is charged with participating in a fight against members of the Ashkali ethnic minority who live in their home village of Piskota in western Kosovo.
He said that Kelmendi was remanded in custody for 30 days by a court in Belgrade.
The charges could not be confirmed because the Serbian authorities have not yet issued any information about his arrest.
BIRN contacted Kosovo’s foreign ministry for further information about the case but received no reply by the time of publication.
The ministry sent the protest note on the same day as the Serbian authorities released Nehat Thaci, Kosovo’s regional police director for the Mitrovica area, who was detained while entering Serbia on September 28 on terrorism charges.
It remains unclear whether the charges against Thaci were dropped or not.
The Kosovo foreign minister’s chief of staff, Bashmir Xhemaj, suggested that his release came as a result of diplomatic pressure on Serbia.
Xhemaj wrote on social media that the release was the result of “diplomacy in action”.
Kosovo’s foreign ministry warned people on Monday not to use Serbia as a transit country and “avoid it as much as possible in the coming months” because they could be arrested.
Many former Kosovo Liberation Army members are on Serbian wanted lists, accused of terrorism, but most of their names have not been made public.
Those known to be charged include Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, former Prime Minister Agim Ceku, the leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo party, Ramush Haradinaj and other former high-ranking KLA members. Some of them have been temporarily detained while travelling in Europe.
Kosovo has repeatedly demanded that Interpol and its member states do not act upon arrest warrants issued by Serbia.
