The Head of the “Humanitarian Committee to Kosovo and Metohija” from Banjaluka, Milorad Arlov was twice banned from entering Kosovo last year. Arlov sent an appeal to the Kosovo Police but the envelope containing the appeal was returned to the sender with the stamp „rejected“, his lawyer, Dejan Vasic told KoSSev.
Arlov who was entering the territory of Kosovo unhindered through Jarinje border crossing for years in order to deliver humanitarian aid to Kosovo Serbs and attended various events in predominantly Serbian areas was banned from entry on June 26th and then on December 27th last year.
According to the document submitted to the KoSSev portal by Arlov, dated December 27th, the reason for the entry ban reads: „Is considered to be a threat to the public order and public security, national security or international relations.“
The other document dated in June last year, containing the „rejected“ red stamp of the Kosovo Border Police, it cites that Arlov „is a person for whom an alert has been issued for the purposes of refusing entry in the national register.”
Milorad Arlov’s lawyer, Dejan Vasic told KoSSev that he sent an appeal to the Kosovo Police’s Appeals and Complaints Commission within the set deadline, but it was returned as allegedly rejected.
„After some time, the appeal I sent by mail was returned, the envelope was open, and the back of it contained a stamp ‘rejected’,“ Vasic confirmed for KoSSev, adding that no explanation was given as to why the appeal was rejected.
In addition to the police, memos were also sent to the embassies in Pristina – the US, Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, and UNMIK, with the aim of „informing them about the violation of basic democratic rights to free movement“, Vasic further explained.
Arlov also called on international representatives to help him obtain an explanation as to why he was banned from entering Kosovo and in removing the ban, which he described as “unjust.”
No answer, however, has arrived from the embassies either, Vasic confirmed for KoSSev. In a follow-up conversation, Arlov told KoSSev that he was only contacted by UNMIK staff.
KoSSev spoke earlier today Kosovo Police Spokeseperson Baki Kelani who requested a written note.
Arlov believes that the reason for the ban lies in his humanitarian work organized for years by the board from Banja Luka, which aims to assist Kosovo Serbs.
„Albanians, Roma, Ashkali, Bosniaks, everyone has the right to help their own people and no one is banned from entering (cf. Kosovo) except for me – a Serb, who has never given a single political statement. Time will show the purpose of the ban, where it comes from with no explanation or a single valid legal reason why freedom of movement and human rights have been violated, based on which every normal society must rest without precedent,“ Arlov said.
Some Pristina media also reported of Arlov’s ban on entry. The Pristina-based Gazeta Express published an article on December 28th titled „Another Santa Claus in the North, the police ban the entry of a Serb official.“ The article claimed that Arlov is “an official of the Kosovo Office”.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
