An unidentified group of police officers with bulletproof vests and weapons harassed Živojin Rakočević, professor, long-time journalist and president of the Association of Journalists of Serbia, and Žarko Milenković, professor and poet, editor of literary programs, at the roundabout in Preoc, not far from Gračanica, between 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. Cultural center „Gračanica“.
Rakočević and Milenković were stopped at the roundabout in Preoce in Borko Filipović Street by armed policemen. On that occasion, their vehicle fell into a large hole at the end of the road. Minor material damage was caused.
„Seeing what he did, the policeman started shouting in the Albanian language, behaving very aggressively and being very unpleasant. When asked politely if there was anyone who spoke Serbian, he responded with new anger and aggression, took us outside and started to the search of the car. When asked again why they are doing this and whether we can get their police number, they responded with a very unpleasant, detailed search, leaning against the car, kicking their legs,“ stated Rakočević and Milenkovic in a letter to the Police Inspectorate of Kosovo regarding this case .
They pointed out: „here we pay fees and taxes, so we also pay these policemen who discriminate, humiliate and carry out repression“. However, they added that „they are not asking for any punishments for them, because they are punishing European norms and laws“.
„We ask that you find them and, if possible, stop the repression, open some kind of dialogue and prevent a huge number of people from being discriminated against, humiliated and living in fear. The result of this behavior is enclaves and losing hope for any democratic progress. All this causes deep mistrust and is in complete contrast to the campaigns and promotions that all citizens have confidence in the Kosovo Police and that it can protect them,“ said Rakočević and Milenković.
They did not receive any response to their letter.
At the same time, they reported the unpleasant event to the head of the OSCE in Kosovo, Michael Davenport, and to the ambassadors of the USA and Germany – Geoffrey Hovenier and Jern Rode, and asked them several questions:
– Is the use of the Serbian language a trigger for violence by uniformed members of the police and has the Serbian language been removed from official use?
– Can police officers without identification numbers, at their discretion, act aggressively against citizens and anyone who for some reason is suspicious or dislikes them, uses the Serbian language or demands that the law be respected?
– Are police officers allowed to cause damage to private property when stopping a vehicle, if they do so in an unsafe place?
– Is there any chance that a minimum of laws will be respected in Kosovo, and that ethnicity will be a secondary consideration?
As Radio Kim learns, they did not receive an answer to their questions even from international diplomats.
