Wrote: Fatbardh Dema
The Special Prosecution Office and the Kosovo Police announced in a statement today (August 3) that they have arrested five people suspected of war crimes against the civilian population.
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia (OKOS) has reacted through its website “kim.gov.rs”. In this reaction, this office claims that by direct order of Albin Kurti, four Serbs were arrested this morning, under false charges of alleged war crimes, adding that during this morning's raids on the house of the Serbian hosts, Albanian police officers robbed, broke the door, beat and mistreated the elderly in the presence of their children and grandchildren.
After checking the facts, hibrid.info has confirmed that the OQS, in its reaction regarding the arrest of Serbian citizens, does not provide any facts for the above-mentioned claims.
Link to the response published on the website of the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia “kim.gov.rs”:
https://kim.gov.rs/lat/v5639.php
Part of the OQS's response, translated into Albanian:
On the direct orders of Albin Kurti, four Serbs were arrested this morning in the village of Pasjane, namely Dragan Cvetkovic, Dragan Nicic, Milos Sosic and Slobodan Jevtic, under false charges of alleged war crimes, even though they are people who have lived in peace for years, without any problems and live on their doorstep.
According to eyewitnesses and their families, the ROSU police had lists of Serbs with them when they arrested them and did not show any search warrants, which clearly indicates that they were detained arbitrarily, on political grounds based on secret lists.
During this morning's raids on the home of the Serbian hosts, Albanian police officers robbed, broke down the door, beat and mistreated the elderly in the presence of their children and grandchildren. Free legal aid was immediately offered to all those arrested.
What does the joint statement of the Special Prosecution Office and the Kosovo Police say?
Excerpt from the announcement
The Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo informs the public that after conducting several months of investigations, today, in cooperation with the Kosovo Police-War Crimes Directorate, as well as in coordination with security institutions and the competent court, it has led an action, which has resulted in the arrest and detention of five (5) persons suspected of the criminal offense of "War Crimes", under Article 142 in conjunction with Article 22 of the Criminal Code of the SFRY.
As part of this action, by order of the Special Prosecutor, the following persons with the initials: DC, DN, NS, SJ, M.Sh. were detained, with reasonable suspicion that they, in complicity with other unidentified members of this group, armed and dressed in camouflaged uniforms and irregular Serbian police or army uniforms, on 05.04.1999, in the early hours of the morning, they had undertaken an action in the villages of Inatoc (Kokaj), Llovcë, Pogragjë and Uglar, where they had intentionally and deliberately killed, injured, burned alive Albanian civilian victims, taken hostage, raped, beaten, mistreated, tortured physically and psychologically, looted, destroyed and burned Albanian property, expelled the Albanian civilian population, destroyed and abused cultural and religious objects, these actions sanctioned according to local laws, customs of war and the International Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols. (see here)
So, the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia does not provide facts that would support the claims made in the report. While this announcement from this office also found a place in some Serbian-language media, such as "Danas.rs","Dnevnik.rs","B92.net","Pravda.rs","Radiostoplus.com","Kurir.rs"and "Novosti.rs".
Analyze:
The Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia, through a reaction, claimed that by direct order of Albin Kurti, four Serbs were arrested this morning, under false charges of alleged war crimes.
In this reaction, this office also raises another claim that during the arrest of Serbian citizens, Kosovo Police broke down doors, beat and mistreated the elderly in the presence of their children and grandchildren.
For all these claims, this office does not provide a single fact that would support them.
On the other hand, the Special Prosecution Office and the Kosovo Police announced that the arrest of five persons was made under suspicion of the criminal offense of "War Crimes", who are suspected of having committed war crimes against Albanian civilians in several villages in Kosovo on April 5, 1999, armed and dressed in camouflaged uniforms and irregular Serbian police or army uniforms.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info assesses the claims made by the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia as "Conspiracy Theory".
Reasoning:
"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.