Amid Border Tensions, Kosovo Police Deny Beating Serbs

Kosovo police denied reports by Serbian-language media that they assaulted three Serbs near the border amid continued protests over new regulations imposed on Serbian vehicles by the Pristina government.

Kosovo police officials change their shifts in Jarinje, Kosovo, September 24, 2021. Photo: BIRN/Adelina Ahmeti

Kosovo’s police inspectorate did not make clear on Friday whether or not it intends to further investigate the alleged beating by police of three ethnic Serbs near the border with Serbia, where tensions are high amid continuing protests parked by a dispute between Pristina and Belgrade over vehicle licence plates.

Serbian-language media in Kosovo reported on Thursday that the three Serb men were beaten by the police in Bernjak/Brnjak, in the Serb-majority north of Kosovo, close to the border with Serbia, which has been blockaded by protesters.

The Kossev news website published video footage of three men who were admitted to hospital in North Mitrovica, claiming they were verbally abused and beaten by Kosovo police in Bernjak/Brnjak, where they were allegedly collecting wood.

But Baki Kelani, spokesperson for the Kosovo police, told BIRN on Friday that “the case of the alleged beating of three ethnic Serbs has been publicly denied by the police”.

Kelani added that he “cannot say” if there will be a further investigation, but insisted that “the three people who were stopped by the police were Albanians”.

Police claimed that a report published by Serbian-language website Kosovo Online, was “tendentious and untrue”, and that it was intended “to misinform the public, to present a situation of insecurity for citizens as well as to fulfil various political ambitions oriented from outside [Kosovo]”.

A police statement said that officers had “detained, verified and then released three drivers of Kosovar nationality, who were instructed to report to the police station South Mitrovica”.

Kosovo police’s daily briefing on Thursday said the regional police directorate in Mitrovica registered that “three Kosovar men sought medical help” after sustaining injuries.

The police report does not clarify whether the cases are correlated, or the reason why the men sought medical help.

Goran Rakic, the head of the Belgrade-backed Kosovo Serb party Srpska Lista, urged “international organisations and Pristina”, on Thursday to look into the case.

The Jarinje and Bernjak/Brnjak border crossing points in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo remained blocked for a fifth day on Friday after local Serbs obstructed roads with dozens of trucks in protest against changes to border regulations for vehicles with Serbian registration plates.

Kosovo deployed armed police special forces on Monday after the Pristina government imposed the new regulations, which say that people entering Kosovo must change Serbian vehicle licence plates for temporary Kosovo ones when entering the country – as drivers with Kosovo plates have had to do when entering Serbia for the past two decades.

Kosovo government claims the move intends to create equivalence with Serbia’s practices and is not intended to discriminate against ethnic Serbs.

NOTE: This article was amended on September 27, 2021 to clarify that a police statement criticising media coverage referred specifically to Kosovo Online, not Kossev or other outlets.