Prishtina, 20 June, 2023
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, together with the Deputy Prime Minister, at the same time Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, held a press conference today.
Find the complete speech of Prime Minister Kurti at the press conference:
Dear Media,
Dear citizens,
Good day and thank you for responding positively to our invitation for this guest conference together with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Mrs. Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz.
At noon on June 14, Serbia’s aggression against the democratic state of Kosovo was carried out, with the kidnapping of three officers of our Police, deep inside the territory of the Republic. This unprecedented act of aggression by the military police formations of Serbia is direct revenge against the Kosovo Police, only because organized crime is being fought, and which aims at destabilization when only a day before, on June 13, we proposed the plan five points for complete de-escalation of the situation in the north of our country.
The arrest of the capo of organized crime and one of the heads of the so-called “Civil Defense”, an illegal structure of Serbia in Kosovo, Milun Milenkovic – Llune, showed extraordinary efficiency, and on the part of Serbia it was followed by revenge against actions for ruling law and order in our Republic. One day after the arrest, Serbia used the most cowardly and internationally illegal instrument, that is, the kidnapping of three Kosovo Police officials. For this inhuman revenge, we have requested open denunciation and opposition with the force of law from all our partners.
The Kosovo Police was at the scene, KFOR was also there, they found the traces of boots, foreign shoes in the direction of Serbia, and they also found the plastic handcuffs of the Serbian forces.
The kidnapping was planned, with armed men belonging to two formations, that of the Special Antiterrorist Unit, known by the acronym “SAJ”, and the formation of the Special Military Units, known as “Cobra”.
Those who claim that the policemen were arrested in Serbia, must explain how their plastic ties like handcuffs were in the exact place where we have already announced in the June 15 conference, together with Minister Sveçla, after the Security Council Meeting of Kosovo, i.e. 1 kilometer away from the border on one side, in the northwestern part, 670 meters away to the north-northeast from the border with Serbia and 300 meters to the southwest of the border again away from Serbia, and inside the territory of Kosovo.
The scene of the kidnapping of three Kosovo policemen took place in Kosovo. It is not about any arrest in Serbia, it is about kidnapping in Kosovo. For the kidnapping, all local and international mechanisms have been contacted so that our policemen are released as soon as possible and return to their country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora has done an extraordinary job here, for which I thank my deputy and Minister Gërvalla and her entire team, and our ambassadors and other diplomats of our foreign service for the communication they have developed, for the letters they sent in order to raise an international wave of justice demanding the immediate and unconditional release of the three kidnapped policemen.
We are in constant communication with the Liaison Office of the Republic of Kosovo in Serbia, with the head of the office, Ambassador Jetish Jashari. He has been in contact with the institutions there, trying to get as much information as possible about the condition of the kidnapped policemen. Ambassador Jashari today visited the three policemen, who are being held hostage by Serbia, he visited them separately one after the other. The three policemen’s description of how the kidnapping happened is the same. There are three separate and identical accounts of three people who say that at the time of the kidnapping on June 14, they were at the improvised dining table, that is, they were having lunch together, when 15 people surrounded them, attacked them and kidnapped. All three were together and all three tell the same story when asked separately from each other by our ambassador, Jetish Jashari. This removes any dilemma even for those who want to be skeptical about the right of Kosovo, that Serbia has developed aggression on June 14 and has kidnapped three of our policemen.
The place where the dining table is located is 7 meters from the police car. Once again, exactly in the place where we pointed out since June 15, that is, 1 kilometer inland on one side, 300 meters on the other side and 670 meters on the other side. So, inside anyway, only 7 meters away from their car.
We are in our right, in the right of the Republic, and the evidence that our security institutions possess, and the testimony of our three policemen, clearly document that the Kosovo Police officials were inside the territory of the Republic. The policemen were on duty, fighting smuggling, where one of the 16 illegal roads that were closed last year was closed. Therefore, illegal roads must remain impassable illegal roads, that’s why we had the policemen there.
We are a democratic Republic and here we have the rule of law, there is neither submission nor turning back. We are in our right to respect constitutionality and legality, for the rule of law, against any citizen or community, but in defense of law and order.
Once again, we demand the immediate release of the three police officers. They must be released as soon as possible, unconditionally and intact. At the same time, we ask the international factors, the European Union, the United States of America and NATO to condemn Serbia’s aggression, which also represents a violation of point four of the technical-military agreement of Kumanova, on June 9, 1999.
Thank you very much, and now I am passing the floor to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Ms. Donika Gërvalla Schwarz, who will explain in more detail about the information we received from our ambassador Jetish Jashari’s report.
Thank you!
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The speech of the Deputy Prime Minister, at the same time Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Donika Gërvalla Schwarz, at the press conference:
Thank you very much!
Dear representatives of the media,
Dear citizens of the Republic of Kosovo,
Knowing the extraordinary interest of the citizens of the Republic about the condition of our three police officers, who have been kidnapped and sent to Serbia, I would like to share some deeper details with you.
So today, June 20, 2023, Ambassador Jetish Jashari, who is the representative of the Republic of Kosovo in Serbia, that is, the head of the Liaison Office in Belgrade, visited three police officers of the Republic of Kosovo, that is, Mr. Beqir Sefa, Mr. Rifat Zeka and Mr. Shemë Mustafa, who was abducted within the territory of the Republic of Kosovo by Serbian forces on June 14, 2023.
The visit was carried out at the detention center in Kralevë, where three officers of the Republic of Kosovo are being held since June 16, 2023 and whom the High Prosecutor’s Office of Kralevë is currently holding under the charge of illegal possession of weapons.
The meetings were held for 15 minutes each, and there each of the police officers described the event of their abduction from the moment of their capture until they appeared before the prosecutor and the judge of the preliminary procedure at the Supreme Court of Kraleva on June 16, 2023.
They stated as follows: On June 14, 2023, at around 12:30 p.m., while eating lunch, they were suddenly surrounded by about 15 uniformed persons, who later turned out to be members of the Serbian security forces and armed who attacked and disarmed them and then sent them with bags on their heads to their cars, i.e. to the cars of the Serbian forces.
In the case of the attack on three policemen of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Sefa emphasized that some of the members of the Serbian security forces fired their weapons in the air. In all likelihood, he thinks, to cause panic among the police officers and make their resistance more difficult.
At the time of the kidnapping, the three policemen of the Republic of Kosovo were eating lunch at the improvised table, which is immediately near the first pit and about 15 meters from the second pit. As for clarification, you know that the pits are located in the north to block illegal roads, to block the passage through these illegal roads of vehicles that bring smuggled goods. And both pits, according to police officers, are within the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, which is not far off, because we do not dig pits in the territory of Serbia and at least 200 meters from the border line that separates the Republic of Kosovo from Serbia, so the pits.
After their kidnapping, they were first sent somewhere inside the territory of Rashka, where after about 1 hour, other security forces of Serbia came and sent them somewhere in Belgrade.
They were then held in Belgrade until June 16, when the 48-hour police detention period expired. They emphasized that during this 48-hour period they were not physically abused, but they were not given enough food, only a piece of bread and no more.
While, Mr. Shem Mustafa, who has chronic health problems with the respiratory organs, was only given an injection, it is not known with what effect, and a breathing pump.
During this time, the three police officers of the Republic of Kosovo have been assigned three lawyers according to their official duties. From the moment of the pronouncement of the extension of detention for another 30 days by the High Court in Kralevë, the three police officers of the Republic of Kosovo have been placed in the detention center in Kralevë. They are now housed in separate rooms, that is, individually, but they do not have access to television or any other form of print media, newspapers, etc.
According to them, the treatment by the prison staff, i.e. guards and other staff, is correct. They are given food on a regular daily basis although the quality according to one of them is not good.
Yesterday, the prison authorities gave you underwear and hygiene accessories, but Mr. Sheme Mustafa has emphasized that he still lacks the basic medications that he uses regularly for his health condition and that this is making his stay in prison very difficult.
Through Ambassador Jashari and contact with his family, we will try to provide the medications as soon as possible, so that Mr. Mustafa has at least the necessary medications. They also met yesterday with the defense lawyers engaged and with the one engaged by our institutions and they emphasized that they will be visited by him during the following days.
They have been told that they will be able to be visited by their families on Friday, but we have to wait until such a meeting will be possible.
These are the details that Ambassador Jashari provided us with, so if there are any questions about them, we are available.
Last modified: June 21, 2023