Prishtina, 15 June 2023
Thank you, Speaker of the Assembly, Mr. Glauk Konjufca,
Honorable deputies, ministers
Honorable citizens,
I wish to begin this speech of mine for this report to the Assembly by reminding that the situation in four municipalities in the Northern Republic of Kosovo is the result of the clash of two paradigms; that of the rule of law, of legitimacy, and that of the rule of criminal groups, which have also fascistic incentives and premises as the ideology of militancy, as an expression of violence against legitimate institutions. Of course, the Republic of Kosovo, its people, our constitutional and legal order have clearly determined that our only approach, our only choice and solution is the first paradigm, that is, constitutionality and legality.
The Government of the Republic of Kosovo fulfilled its obligation to enable the entry of the democratically and legally elected mayors of the four municipalities in the north of the Republic, despite the refusal and despite the extension of five days given to the Serbian List to participate in the elections. Fulfillment of such an obligation by the Government, I must emphasize, was not a symbolic issue nor a legal formality. We must fulfill our duty to overthrow the first paradigm, which are the fascist groups of the militia, those who determine who enters the building and who leaves, when they enter and when they leave, who will be the mayor of a municipality in the north of the Republic and who has rights and obligations. Our access on May 26th was not a matter of choice nor desire: it was not only a constitutional and legal obligation, but also a duty to the sovereignty of the state and the governing model that our Republic must guarantee throughout its territory.
These extremist groups of violent, this fascist militia does not tolerate either political pluralism or human rights. Human rights unite universality and equality. They don’t believe that people should be equal. They, on the other hand, do not want to allow more than one party of the Serbian community, so these two paradigms are clashing harshly due to the deep contrast they have.
Following the events that have occurred since May 26, including the violent attacks directed from Belgrade towards Kosovo Police, KFOR members and journalists, our Government has responded with maximum care. Meanwhile, the Kosovo Police with an emphasized self-control. We have been patient, calm and cautious all the time not to rush. Nevertheless, we neither withdrew nor allowed anyone to be subjugated by Vučiq’s fascist militia, which often used groups of ordinary civilians as shields, who overwhelmingly either had no choice but to protest because they lost their jobs in public administration, or lost their jobs in Radojčiq’s, Veselinoviq’s and similar companies. These simple civilian citizens were used as if in an organized attack scenario by the autocratic state that is our northern neighbor to our democratic Republic. The police of the Republic naturally defended public institutions from the fascist militia and in this case identified many of them, who naturally were also pursued. One of the reasons I mentioned their names in this Republic Assembly, 33rd already, on June 2nd, was that 5 were arrested and 28 were fugitives. So, we’re talking about 6 arrested and 27 on the run, it’s precisely to say that we don’t have it with the Serbian community, but with these particular names, who are responsible for violence, escalation and ongoing attempts to destabilize. I guarantee you that the identification and arrest of the apostrophized members has been done in full compliance with the criminal justice standards of our Republic, procedural rights in criminal proceedings and evidentiary standards for the administration of evidence. The Police of the Republic is the most professionally trained unit in the region, precisely due to the fact that it is a product of the training of police forces of friendly states, including the United States of America, the member states of the European Union and the United Kingdom. Police of the Republic does not hunt witches, it adheres strictly to standards of evidence and factual testimony collected lawfully. These schools and trainings that our police have completed do not allow the politicization of procedures and operations. I, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, have been informed, as you have, of the arrest of a prominent exponent of organized crime, and one of the leaders of the Civil Defense Milun Milenković-Llune. For, now the illegal structures of Serbia and criminal groups are in panic, so much so that I have the impression that maybe we are still not fully aware of the magnitude of importance that this arrested person in pre-trial detention has for organized crime.
It is clearly not about an exponent of organized crime, who committed a criminal offense or violated the law on May 26 or 29. This was done many, many years ago, regularly, until he was arrested.
With his arrest, which actually followed the organized attacks against our police, KFOR soldiers and journalists, Serbia also committed an unprecedented act of aggression against our Republic, on June 14, by kidnapping three regular border police of our Republic. Those that carried out this act were special members of the Serbian Army, who, in anonymous cars, deep within the interior of Kosovo territory carried out an act of aggression ordered by official Belgrade. It is about armed people belonging to two formations. The first is that of the Special Anti-Terrorist Units, known by the acronym “SAJ”, and the second is that of the Special Military Units, known by the name “Kobra”. Let me say that such an act of this Serbian military police is at best a cowardly act, which after kidnapping three police officers that had a clear mandate to protect the border from groups smuggling goods through illegal routes, quickly fled the scene. All these police officers, the three that were kidnapped, were not there for the first time. We have closed sixteen illegal roads last year which must have police that do not allow physical closures to be a closure of propaganda, because in those roads there is an interest that even further smuggling which has super profit continues. Therefore, we still have police units on these 16 streets. These police officers, of course, are not equipped to guard the border, not only because the army should do this in principle, but because they are police officers whose primary duty, for which they have training and experience, is to fight contraband in a hostile environment. These are police officers stopping a van with food or pharmaceutical goods that are being smuggled, maybe something else too. However, Serbia has brought its most elite units to a country which is known to have had police throughout the year, deeply entrenched in the interior of our Republic’s territory.
As the picture of the map shows, this place is located 670 meters away from the border with Serbia, inside the territory of Kosovo, in a northeast-north direction, 1 km in a northwest direction, and 300 meters in a southwest direction. Indeed, it is deep in the territory of Kosovo, the place where three police officers of our Republic have been kidnapped. None of the police officers on these patrols have ever gone beyond the place where the illegal roads are blocked.
These checkpoints on the road, are practically the places where the police take care that there is no disruption, here stands our police, our police watch over that the physical barriers of illegal roads not be disrupted by criminal groups. That’s it. Such an act from a human perspective, both perpetrator and recipient, constitutes on the other hand an act of aggression against the Republic of Kosovo. Aggression constitutes a crime prohibited by international law, whereas its perpetrators have committed an international criminal act. States must comply with the basic rules of International Law, or else reprisals will have to follow, while minimum standards of inter-state relations must change. If we have to go in such a direction, we are still waiting to see Serbia’s behavior and the reaction of the international factor.
Let me reiterate that the protection of the border line in the northern part of our Republic is the joint responsibility of KFOR and Kosovo Police. In cases when the aggression is of a military scale, the responsibility of defending the border line should be of KFOR’s. This, among other things, is due to the NATO international mandate and the responsibility it took upon when it agreed to an agreement with the former Prime Minister Thaçi, preventing our country’s army from entering that part of the state. Thus, we are still waiting for KFOR to take effective responsibility for the exercise of its protective function, ordering Serbia to return the abducted police officers to Kosovo and to punish this blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty of our country, but also of Point 4 of the Kumanovo Agreement. Yesterday, point 4 of the Kumanovo Agreement, the Technical-Military Agreement of 9 June 1999, has been violated. KFOR should not be silent nor submissive towards a kidnapper’s attack which it had the mandate to prevent. If KFOR transforms this silence into a rate, and some silent submission to law, which is known publicly, then let it tell us openly and thus deny an international responsibility that was supposed to be effectively fulfilled.
The kidnapping of the Serbian army against three police officers in the territory of our Republic was done as a sign of revenge towards the actions for the rule of law in our Republic. A police which successfully and efficiently arrested one of the leaders of organized crime, has caused both panic and a sense of revenge. What we have seen yesterday is revenge on one side and aggression on the other.
The creation of vengeance as a tool against actions of law enforcement in the Republic of Kosovo is not only a barbaric, medieval mindset, but a sign of Serbia’s orientation towards the East, towards the despots of the East rather than the European Union and the United States.
Revenge in the least humane, barbaric and internationally illegal form should be denounced openly and opposed with the force of law.
The government will do everything that is possible, working day and night, to free the three policemen of the Republic from kidnapping. I had a phone conversation yesterday with the US Special Envoy Gabriel Escobar, the US Ambassador Jeffry Hovenier, and I am coming from a joint meeting with all the Ambassadors, Deputy Ambassadors, Mission Chiefs and other diplomats accredited to the Republic of Kosovo, where we explained and informed them in detail about yesterday and today. Now that 30 hours have passed since the kidnapping of three police officers and we still have not received a formal explanatory statement from KFOR, which was at the scene of the incident, I have expressed my protest against this silence, as well as my request for urgent response.
At the scene of the event, traces of shoes and boots that lead towards Serbia, cars without license plates, and especially plastic handcuffs of Serbian forces were found. Those who only performed the kidnapping, but at the same time wanted to leave public traces of this kidnapping. They talked about an aggression with arrogance, they did not try to hide the traces of the crime, on the contrary, their aim was for it to be known that they were there at that time.
I visited the families of Shema Mustafa in Mitrovica, and those of Beqir Sefe and Rifat Zeke in Letanje and Peran of Podujevo today. I saw naturally the concern and anxiety of the families, but at the same time their resistance and support for the Kosovo Police and the institutions of the Republic.
These three, two of them have had health problems. One is 48 years old, the other 57 and the third 62. These three policemen with health problems have not been there as Serbia presents them, members of the elite special units of our country. So, it’s not true. Now that international factors have started to mobilize for their release and return, this is a kind of proof that everyone is understanding that they have actually been in Kosovo territory.
If these three policemen were armed deeply in Serbian territory, then no one would speak of their release, and in addition, we would also be in conflict with our own members.
Only from the visits of their families, but also from talking to their other police colleagues who do the shift change, it is clear that this has happened in the territory of Kosovo. This too is aggression, therefore, against our Republic, but also against KFOR, respectively against NATO.
We do not legitimize revenge as a form of our governing relationship and respond in the same manner of the thought process of Vuiçiq’s militia.
I am interested in de-escalating the situation in the north. This I have proven even on Monday when I proposed to the high representatives of the EU, a five-point plan.
For, de-escalation must happen in service of the full normalization of the situation and relationships, not to the detriment of our statehood, rule of law and submission to fascist militia. Therefore, we will respond to such provocations only with order and law, with a civilized state approach, but also with the full legitimate power of our Republic. No going back, no submission, and no change of mind to respect the Constitution, territorial integrity, the state of law, and the European values of our independent state.
Thank you.
Last modified: June 19, 2023