Following the construction of special police unit bases in the north and the increased patrolling of these units of the Kosovo Police, KoSSev received a number of complaints from citizens of the north of Kosovo about their behavior. While the locals complain about intimidation, demonstration of force, and even excessive use of force, the Kosovo Police say that it is not the intention of their units to create insecurity or provoke, but that they are there to ensure the safety of all citizens.
In the past months, several citizens of the north of Kosovo contacted our newsroom with almost identical allegations about the behavior of members of special units – saying that they allegedly pulled them over after entering the territory of Kosovo via the Brnjak crossing, while armed with firearms, and purportedly treated them harshly.
They also testified that the members of the special units of the Kosovo Police communicated with them mostly in Albanian, that in most cases the citizens, who describe such situations as harassment, did not understand what they were saying. According to their testimonies, they were most often pulled over when traveling with children, who were traumatized by the treatment.
The last such testimony arrived on Sunday evening. According to the testimony of L.N., at around 22.20h she was pulled over by a special unit patrol while traveling with her family to Zubin Potok via Brnjak.
„One hundred meters from the Brnjak crossing, in complete darkness, I was pulled over by heavily armed members of the Kosovo Police. They aggressively and arrogantly insisted on checking our IDs and searching my car. There were children present who suffered great trauma. They provoked and insulted us the entire time. They spoke in Albanian,“ L.N. says.
Similar allegations were made by N. T. just four days earlier. According to him, members of the special unit pulled him over around 23.30h in Gazivode. He says that they also physically attacked him while frisking him.
„In the evening, around 23.30h, in Gazivode, the Kosovo special unit ROSU pulled me over, and told me to get out, they pushed me against the car and hit my legs even though I had spread them. Then, because I didn’t have a driver’s license with me, two ROSU members physically attacked me, hitting me twice in the stomach and once in the head, after which, when another car passed by, they pushed me into my car,“ said our fellow citizen, who wished to remain anonymous.
Milica Andric-Rakic from the New Social Initiative confirmed that tensions intensified a few months ago precisely due to the presence of special police units, especially in Zubin Potok.
She reveals that she is aware that several people have been complaining about intimidation and unpleasant experiences with special units for months.
„In most cases, they are not overly unpleasant situations, at least not in the verbal sense, but they are in the physical sense, because how would you feel if someone pulled you over while pointing a gun at you?! It’s not pretty when you see a police officer with a gun either, but it’s something that’s expected and part of normal police behavior. But automatic rifles are above and beyond the usual day-to-day policing on the streets. At the same time, part of these units drive huge armored hummers and it is insane, regardless of how ‘normalized’ it is, that tanks and military vehicles can be seen on the road in the North.“
„People I know who have been pulled over by the special units of the Kosovo Police say they would usually ask them where they work, where they are headed, what their plans are for that day. Some had negative verbal experiences, but no one I spoke to had drastic clashes with these policemen, but they certainly didn’t feel comfortable. Some even complained to me that they were given fines, which is not the responsibility of the border police,“ she says, adding that all this increases tensions.
Andric-Rakic underlined that there is a lack of mutual trust between citizens and the police.
„There is a lack of trust, especially in Zubin Potok, I believe also on the part of the police. One member of the special units died there. There is a specific type of history that initially makes the excessive presence of the police problematic, and then there is the behavior of the police that can be interpreted as inappropriate,“ she stated.
Zubin Potok-born Andric-Rakic says that her family also had an unpleasant experience over the summer with the special police.
„We were pulled over at Brnjak, some 150 meters from the crossing. The police base is in the immediate vicinity of the crossing. We were traveling from the Serbian side to Kosovo, coming back from a trip to a lake cottage. We were in a vehicle with RKS markings. We parked on the side and removed the stickers, where the police could see that we passed the crossing legally. So, they knew that we passed the crossing, where both the customs and the police could search us, that is, anyone who had a certain suspicion that we were smuggling something,“ testified Andric-Rakic.
Regardless of that, they were pulled over by a special police patrol armed with automatic rifles. Andric-Rakic was traveling with her husband and two-year-old daughter at the time.
„I assume that seeing the child and the equipment in the car, they realized that we were returning from a trip to the lake, and the policeman told us that he wanted to see if we had removed the stickers, he looked at our documents briefly and left. There were no inappropriate words, and after initially addressing us in Albanian, to which we responded in Serbian, the policeman then continued to communicate with us in Serbian. He commented that he just wanted to see if we had stickers. There was nothing inappropriate, but the situation was very unpleasant.“
According to her, the special police have no reason to stop anyone on the main roads after crossing Brnjak, because vehicles and people pass through a legal crossing.
„The whole atmosphere seems very hostile. Secondly, after pulling us over, I don’t think he needed to point an automatic rifle at us. Thirdly, the border police should not carry out the work of traffic police, but take care of alternative crossings. Whether we have stickers or not is the responsibility of the traffic police.“
„From the position I was in, I could not interpret it in any other way than as an attempt to intimidate people who regularly cross Brnjak. What other reason could he have to pull us over while carrying a firearm and then give the excuse that he wanted to see if we had stickers?“
Finally, she pointed out that people from outside of Zubin Potok who recently stayed there and to whom she spoke also testified to an increased presence of the special police in the north.
Maybe Mitrovica and Zvecan are not as affected by those scenes, but Zubin Potok and Leposavic certainly are
KP: We have no intention to provoke anyone but to ensure the safety of everyone
The KoSSev portal reached out to Pristina institutions on several occasions regarding these allegations, including recently the Kosovo Police, and the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs.
We asked them if they had received complaints about police behavior, if they had information about the incidents, what the rules of the service dictate, and if members of special police units have the right to carry out ID checks in the vicinity of Brnjak instead of the border police.
The answer from the Kosovo Police finally arrived this week. They say that no police unit has the intention to provoke or create insecurity, on the contrary:
„They are present everywhere in Kosovo, according to operational need and risk, at checkpoints, to ensure the safety of all citizens in the country. The Kosovo Police, with its competent units, performs its duties and legal powers on the entire territory of the country without distinction,“ the KP said in a written response to KoSSev.
They state that the framework of their duties, as well as legal powers, includes the checking of vehicles as per the plan to fight against criminal acts and smuggling.
„Such a police task in the entire territory of the Republic of Kosovo is also carried out in the North of Kosovo, where their main goal is to preserve public order and security, provide security for all citizens without distinction, as well as prevent smuggling and organized crime,“ the Police emphasized.
„The Kosovo Police has a mission to implement laws in the Republic of Kosovo in a professional and efficient manner. The Kosovo Police carry out its mission by performing general duties and legal powers with the aim of ensuring security, law enforcement, preventing and suppressing criminal activities, preventing risks to all citizens without distinction, maintaining order and public safety, as well as managing and controlling the state border.”
What the KP failed to specify in their response was whether there were reported incidents and complaints about the behavior of police officers.
The Constitution of Kosovo provides for fair (territorial) ethnic representation in the police
Article 61 of the Constitution of Kosovo, which addresses representation in employment in public institutions, foresees a fair territorial, that is, ethnic representation in institutions, primarily the police service of Kosovo.
„Communities and their members shall be entitled to equitable representation in employment in public bodies and publicly owned enterprises at all levels, including in particular in the police service in areas inhabited by the respective Community, while respecting the rules concerning competence and integrity that govern public administration.“
While the police say that their task is to ensure security, citizens from the north, primarily Zubin Potok, according to the testimony of the opposition councilor of this municipality, Milija Bisevac, see the presence of special forces under the pretext of fighting crime as an „occupation“.
Milija Bisevac in front of the civic initiative “Za Zubin Potok” spoke about this issue in an interview for the KoSSev portal back in September.
„Under the pretext of fighting against smuggling, the patrols of the special police forces have intensified since the previous license plate crisis,” recalls Bisevac, reminding that at the time, by Kurti’s order, the KP special units were stationed at Brnjak and Jarinje, and the locals set up barricades that lasted for 13 days.
He also claims that the people are afraid because of the construction of special police unit bases.
According to Bisevac, people live on a knife-edge because „they don’t know what will happen next“.
Earlier this year, two Kosovo Special Police bases were built in Donji Jasenovik and Brnjak in the municipality of Zubin Potok. By the decision of the Government of Kosovo from August 19th, certain plots of land in this municipality were expropriated (the same thing happened in Leposavic). According to several testimonies, some parts of the bases have already been erected on these plots.
The expropriation of private land in the municipality of Zubin Potok, i.e. the construction of several bases in the hamlets of this municipality, is a real concern of its residents, as many citizens testify. They are also afraid that the bases are intended to become military bases in the future.
In the past months, KoSSev unsuccessfully tried to obtain any information about the works in this municipality, the purposes and activities of the Kosovo security authorities from any of the official addresses – the exception being the recent testimony of Bisevac, and reminders from KFOR that the arrival of KSF to the north requires prior permission of this mission.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
