The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia (OKOS) has reacted to the arrest of two Serbian school principals in Kamenica, claiming that this is a political act and revenge by the acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Minister Nenad Rashic due to the election results.
“This action represents revenge by Albin Kurti’s regime for the excellent result of the Serbian List in Sunday’s elections and, in particular, for the poor result of Kurti’s favorite, Rašić, in Kamenica, whose only political goal is to expel, arrest and intimidate honest Serbs who have not and cannot be forced to work and vote for them,” This is stated, among other things, in the response published by this office.
What is known about this case?
After verification of the facts conducted by hibrid.info, it was confirmed that the claim from this office is incorrect.
Initially, the mayor of Kamenica, Kadri Rahimaj, announced via his official Facebook account that the two directors were arrested as part of an institutional action and that there are suspicions against them of committing criminal offenses. He said that these are directors of schools in the Serbian parallel system.
Excerpt from Rahimaj's announcement:
After intensive work, an action taken by our institutions against certain individuals, who for a long period have made the work of our local institutions difficult and have disturbed the community, has been successfully concluded.
In one of the most important actions in recent years in Kamenica, local homes were raided and then the principals of the schools of the Serbian parallel system, NV and DK, were arrested, under suspicion of committing criminal offenses.
Subsequently, the Kosovo Police also included the case in its 24-hour report, announcing that the suspects were arrested on suspicion of the criminal offenses of "Unauthorized ownership, control or possession of a weapon" and "Destruction or concealment of archival material."
In addition to the ZOG, the Serbian political entity in Kosovo, the Serbian List, also reacted, describing the action as politically motivated and as pressure on persons who, according to it, had denounced alleged electoral irregularities (see here).
However, based on official information published by the Kosovo Police, the arrest of the two directors is not presented as being related to the electoral process or for political motives. The authorities have announced that the action was taken within the framework of investigations into suspicions of specific criminal offenses.
On June 7, Kosovo held parliamentary elections. Of the 10 seats reserved for the Serb community, preliminary results projected 9 seats to be won by the Serbian List and one by Rašić's party (see here).
Analyze
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia (OKO) and the Serbian List claimed that the arrest of two Serbian school principals in Kamenica was politically motivated and related to the election results.
However, according to the Kosovo Police, they were arrested on suspicion of the criminal offenses of "unauthorized ownership, control or possession of a weapon" and "destruction or concealment of archival material."
Official information does not indicate any connection between the arrest and the electoral process, therefore the claims of the OQS and the Serbian List are not supported by the facts published so far.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info evaluates the claims of the ZOG and the Serbian List as "conspiracy theories".
rationale
"Conspiracy theories" are considered to be informational content that contains a false or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event or person, presenting it as part or the result of a secret plan ("conspiracy"). The characteristic of these contents is that they present a series of claims, presented as facts, between which cause-effect relationships are established, without providing any reliable evidence.