Prishtina, 24 September 2023
UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION
Honorable Media Representatives present,
Dear Citizens,
We have just held an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the Republic of Kosova.
Today’s Security Council meeting was called after an aggressive attack by Serbia’s criminal and terrorist gangs, not only against the Kosova Police but also against our order, security and peace.
In the early morning, around 3:00 o’clock, after an orchestrated attack, our police officer Afrim Bunjaku, with the rank of sergeant, lost his life, while another officer, Alban Rashiti, is being treated, and fortunately his life is no longer in danger. He will be released from the hospital today, after a successful operation that removed a projectile from his left arm.
In the early morning, around 3:00 o’clock, after an orchestrated attack, our police officer Afrim Bunjaku, with the rank of sergeant, lost his life, while another officer, Alban Rashiti, is being treated, and fortunately his life is no longer in danger. He will be released from the hospital today, after a successful operation that removed a projectile from his left arm.
According to the official announcement of the Kosova Police, the police officers were attacked with various weapons, including hand grenades and unguided anti-tank weapons, after being blocked in the street today around three o’clock in the morning.
Today is a difficult day for our country. Starting today, the Police will be without a dedicated officer, just as his family and our entire society will be without him. But above all, his murder should be turned into an even greater commitment in the fight against gangs, illegal structures, crime and terrorism, which violate our security and constitutional order.
Attacks by armed groups with all kinds of weapons, near the location where our officer was killed, are still ongoing.
We condemn this criminal and terrorist attack. Organized crime with political, financial and logistical support from Belgrade is attacking our state. In this battle, we protect and enforce the law, and we defend and safeguard citizens without discrimination, as well as an independent Kosova.
The criminal perpetrators and those who give them orders will fail; they will be captured, tried and punished. The Government of the Republic of Kosova and state institutions are prepared and coordinated to respond to crime and criminals, terror and terrorists.
As the Government of the Republic of Kosova, we stand by the family of the fallen officer, the wounded and injured officers, and the Kosova Police. We are on the right side, we are working for and committed to security, order and law, so we are absolutely together in this journey.
I invite all citizens of Kosova, without distinction, to maintain calm and exercise prudence by allowing the responsible security institutions to carry out their professional work to establish order and law, and provide security.
Condolences once again to everyone for the death of our officer, Afrim Bunjaku, who was brutally killed this morning, in the line of duty.
As I stated earlier, the attacks on our Police are ongoing. There are at least 30 heavily armed persons, professional, military or police, who are located in proximity to our police forces and whom I invite to surrender to our security authorities. There are, then, 30 of these people. They are the ones attacking our police, even after killing Afrim Bunjaku and injuring Alban Rashiti.
I am here before you together with the Deputy Director of the Kosova Police, Fehmi Hoti, and before we move on to your questions, I’d like to present some photographs from the scene in the village of Banjskë of Zveçan, where you will be able to see that we are not dealing with armed civilians, nor with ordinary citizens, but what is in question is a formation of professional, military, or police officers in Banjskë, Zveçan, in and around the Monastery or Church there.
We will also forward all of these photographs to you after the end of this press conference.
As you can see, these vehicles have no license plates and they are vehicles that local Serbs do not possess, nor does anyone who is a civilian in our Republic.
These are the two trucks that have been positioned at the bridge to obstruct movement. You see there a uniformed person who is holding a sidearm that is not typical for police.
Heavily armed persons with military equipment, with masks, who are around the Monastery in Banjskë, Zveçan.
Our security authorities and the Prosecution will surely conduct investigations to understand more about these uniforms, which, as can be seen, also have an armored vehicle there, besides the SUVs they have. This armored vehicle does not belong to the Kosova Police.
You’ll notice that [the person in the photograph] has a vest that is typical for a uniform and equipment of places of war; the vest of this uniformed person that does not even have the uniform of a normal police officer, but of someone who is from special military or police units. Look again at the SUV’s without plates at the wall of the Monastery.
Here you have a person who is also uniformed, who also has a helmet and is carrying something that isn’t easily identifiable what it represents.
You see here how the uniformed person has this weapon on his back, which — I don’t know what its technical name is, but in everyday parlance we call it an “unguided anti-tank weapon”. He is carrying, then, an unguided anti-tank weapon on his back while he passes near the plateless SUV.
It is clear that these uniformed persons are at least 30, and while distinctive elements or badges are not discernible on their uniforms, they represent an organized formation that has come to do battle in Kosova. But I call on all of them, as a formation and as individuals, to surrender to the security authorities that have set up a perimeter around them in Banjskë, Zveçan.
Kosova is a democratic country that belongs to everyone, without discrimination based on ethnicity, and these kinds of infringements of constitutionality, legality, and citizens’ security, peace, life, and well-being are intolerable.
Therefore, before we move on to your questions, let me repeat again, as Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosova, my call to these 30 persons, to surrender to the security authorities.
Thank you for your attention.
Last modified: September 24, 2023