Office for Kosovo and Metohija
Government of the Republic of Serbia

Đurić: If those arrested are not released by tonight, there will be no more Dialogue

Unless five persons who were arrested in the Gnjilane municipality have been released by tonight, there will be no Dialogue “for a long time”, stated today Marko Đurić, Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

He pointed out that this was also the message from the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić, and that the representatives of the European Union have already been informed.

At the extraordinary press conference Đurić stated that the Kosovo Police arrested the District Principal of the Kosovo-Pomoravlje, Radovan Stojković as well as the Head Manager of the National Employment Service Branch Office, Jovan Denić, in the municipality of Gnjilane, and also Nenad Stojanović, a member of the Serbian Army, who lives in Kosovo and Metohija, and works in Vranje.

Also were arrested brothers Aleksandar and Predrag Djordjevic, one active and one retired member of the MoI.

“The assault was brutally carried out according to the tried and tested scenario of the Albanian extremists, completely contrary to everything agreed at the most recent meeting held between Vučić and Federica Mogherini. It was then clearly and unequivocally agreed that such things would not happen any longer, and the Albanians took on the obligation to treat Serbian people with respect, and all this was guaranteed by the presence of HR Mogherini herself,” said Đurić.

According to him, these five Serbs were arrested for verbal delinquency at the very moment that the prime ministers from the Western Balkans region were meeting in London to talk about peace.

“Their only sin was verbal opposition to the formation of the Kosovo Army,” Đurić said.

He said that this morning's assault was a proof that the Albanians trampled on the agreement between Federico Mogherini and the President of Serbia in Brussels.

Đurić said that the five Serbs were arrested only because they were Serbs and that the objective was demonstration of force.

“ But for me, it is mere cowardice, bestiality, insanity and misconduct. Let me be very clear on this: unless these people have been released by this evening, there will be no Dialogue for a long time,” said Đurić, adding that it was also the EU’s responsibility, given that HR Mogerini was the guarantor of what has been agreed.

He added that this is another “in a series of their bestialities and lies” and that this was a “shame of the EU” whose representatives in Kosovo and Metohija allow such flagrant violence against the Serbian people in the Province.

“These people who are arrested, I know them all personally, they are good, honest people, all of them fathers and respected in their wider areas. They work for the Serbian state institutions and their only wrongdoing was that they dared to openly state their opposition to the so-called Kosovo army. This is utter terror, utter violence. And the responsibility falls upon the EU, and upon HR, who was present when the agreement was made, “ underlined Đurić.

He says that he received a statement from Pristina’s make pretend institutions, saying that these Serbs are charged with being involved in activities against the constitutional order of the territorial integrity and security of the UDI so-called “Republic of Kosovo”.

"For shame! These people are being persecuted for being Serbs. They are persecuted for verbal delict by the very same masked people with long pipes who attacked the round table held in Kosovska Mitrovica in late March, the same people who assaulted Serbs in Gjilane,“ he said, adding that this morning's arrest, for him, is mere “taking hostages.”

Commenting on the fact that the Head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Natalija Apostolova, failed to react to the assaults on Serbs at Kosovo and Metohija, Đurić said he would be surprised to hear a positive comment about the Serbs at Kosovo and Metohija, since there were only criticisms.

Asked about the investigation into the murder of Oliver Ivanović, and the then announcement that the Dialogue would be discontinued, Đurić said that after the Ivanović’s assassination there was no Dialogue for four months, until the moment when cooperation was established between the police authorities.

"The tragedy that struck us then was a blow to all the Serbs at Kosovo and Metohija, and something that cannot and will not be left unresolved. I have some knowledge about the murder of Oliver Ivanović, and when the state institution have processed them, they will share them with the public. The most important thing is that our judiciary is actively working on this case and cooperates with the Pristina’s institutions. We will not rest until we have a complete and clear answer, and I am convinced that it will not be before long that we find the people who killed Ivanović,” Đurić said.

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