A fire engulfed a house in a neighborhood of Zveçan overnight, owned by the Berisha family, who had reclaimed it after 28 years.
This announcement was made Zana Berisha on her official TikTok profile where she told about the event at her family's home in Zveçan.
However, the Serbian-language Telegram social media channel "Српски Инат – СБ☧ Corridor"and the page also in Serbian on Instagram"srpski.inat_kim They claimed that the Berisha family decided to burn down their own house, to then blame the Serbs.
These posts also claim that this event was directly orchestrated by the acting Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti (see here and here).
What's wrong with these claims in Serbian?
After online fact-checking conducted by hibrid.info, it was determined that these claims in Serbian do not present any facts or evidence indicating that the house was burned down by members of the Berisha family themselves and that the event was orchestrated by Kurti.
What is known about this event?
The Head of Planning within the Regional Police Operation for North Mitrovica, Erduan Baliqi, in a response to TIME, said that so far there are no suspects.
"After midnight, around 00:10, we received information from a resident of that neighborhood that a house was burning. The house was uninhabitable, there were no residents in it. The police immediately responded to the scene, as well as the firefighters, who localized the fire. All relevant units arrived at the scene and, in consultation with the prosecutor in charge, a case of 'Arson' was opened. At the moment we do not have any suspects, but investigations are underway regarding this matter," Baliqi announced.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of the Kosovo Police for the northern region, Veton Elshani, in a statement to the media, stated that the case is being investigated and that so far there are no suspects (see here).
Even in the 24-hour report of the Kosovo Police, regarding this event, it is clarified that "The case was initiated in consultation with the prosecutor and remains under investigation." (see photo below).
A little context
After almost three decades, the Berisha family has managed to regain ownership of their house in Zveçan (see here). However, a few weeks after regaining the property, part of it was burned on Sunday night, as a result of an attack by currently unknown persons.
Analyze
The claims spread on Serbian channels on Telegram and Instagram that the Berisha family burned down their own house in Zvecan, in order to blame the Serbs, and that the event was orchestrated by Albin Kurti, are not based on any facts or evidence.
Hibrid.info's verification did not find any facts that support these claims. Kosovo authorities have announced that the case is being investigated as "Arson", while so far there are no suspects and the investigations are still ongoing.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the claims in Serbian as "Disinformation".
rationale
"Disinformation" is defined as information content that contains a "mix" of inaccurate sources or even half-truthful attributes, and that is created and/or distributed with the deliberate intention of causing harm. The motive behind the producers/distributors of disinformation content lies in achieving a political, financial, psychological or social goal.