After reviewing the request, we issued 24 notices for the relinquishing of property in North Mitrovica, not for 150-200 cases, the Kosovo Agency for Comparison and Verification of Property said in response to the claims made by official Belgrade about alleged „shameful decisions for Serbs from the north to be moved out of the apartments they purchased“.
This agency stressed that the notices were issued based on the previous legally binding decisions of the Housing and Property Claims Commission, which the agency is obliged to implement, clear out the properties in question, and return them to the possession of the „successful claimants“.
„Expelling Serbs, installing Albanians“
The head of the Kosovo Office, Petar Petković, announced in mid-June that allegedly around 150 Serbian families from the north of Kosovo received a request from the Kosovo Agency for Comparison and Verification of Property to move out of the apartments which they currently inhabit.
Petković also said that they were given a deadline of the end of June, after which they would be reportedly forcefully evicted.
While criticizing official Priština, Petković claims that these apartments were purchased by citizens 20-30 years ago from Trepča and other social enterprises.
„Kurti is persisting with his policy of ethnic cleansing and expulsion of the Serbian people from Kosovo and Metohija, and the decision of the Kosovo Agency for Verification and Comparison of Property serves this purpose, which implies, among other things, the eviction of Serbs from their apartments,“ said Petković at the time.
He also stated that the work of the agency itself is disputed, because it was allegedly established contrary to the agreements from Brussels.
„Representatives from Belgrade and the European Union should also be part of that agency. Therefore, they continue to unilaterally implement some of their decisions, to expel Serbs from the north of Kosovo and Metohija, but also settling Albanians in the North, which is what happened with these fake mayors in four municipalities, and it is an indicator of the direction in which Albin Kurti’s policy is moving.“
Questions and partial answers
KoSSev reached out to the Kosovo Agency for Comparison and Verification of Property on the same day Petković reacted, however, the answer arrived last week.
We asked them to confirm that they sent requests to Serbs in the north to vacate their apartments, to reveal the reason behind this alleged request, and to confirm the allegations that these individuals actually bought the apartments from Trepča and other companies, as claimed by Belgrade.
We also asked the agency to verify the allegation that the tenants have until the end of June to move out and to clarify what will be done with the apartments after the current residents vacate them.
However, the agency provided partial answers to some of our questions.
They did not comment on Belgrade’s allegations about the purchase of apartments, i.e. they failed to provide a clear explanation as to why the eviction is requested. The agency only referred to the previously adopted decision of the Commission for Housing and Property Claims, without any further explanation.
Although they confirmed that the requests, that is, notices for eviction were sent to the citizens, they did not specify whether there is a deadline, or whether the citizens must vacate the apartments by the end of June, as Belgrade claims.
„24 notices to vacate properties, not 150-200“
The acting head of the Information Unit in the Kosovo Agency for Comparison and Verification of Property (KAUVI), Arijanit Bucaj, told KoSSev that this institution took over part of the responsibility from the former Kosovo Property Agency and the former Directorate for Property and Housing Affairs.
„Mainly those parts related to the implementation of the decisions of the Housing and Property Claims Commission of Kosovo, as well as the property currently under the management of KAUVI,“ he said.
Referring to the query of the KoSSev portal, the agency states that it refers to requests submitted to the Directorate for Property and Housing Affairs.
Without further explanation, Bucaj said that the directorate accepted and registered only the requests submitted by private citizens and reviewed by the Housing and Property Claims Commission.
They specified that the number of requests for the return of property is much smaller than the one presented by the official Belgrade, at the same time, presenting data only for North Mitrovica.
„The agency informs you that requests for the return of 42 properties located in the northern part of Mitrovica were submitted based on the final decisions of the Housing and Property Claims Commission. Based on this, the agency, after reviewing the requests in question, issued 24 notices to relinquish property, and not for 150-200 cases as reported in the media.“
They indicated that the decisions of the Commission must be implemented as per Article 2.7 of UNMIK Regulation 1999/23, as well as based on the requests of applicants and that the agency is obliged to clear out the property and return it into the possession of successful applicants.
„The clear out of property that is the subject of the request in the entire territory of the Republic of Kosovo is carried out based on the legally binding decisions of the Housing and Property Claims Commission of Kosovo, the legal framework in force, and the request for return to the possession of the successful applicants, by which the Agency fulfills the legal obligations established by law and other by-laws.“
At the same time, the agency added that they continuously issued eviction orders as per their mandate.
„Also, the agency informs you that Notices on the voluntary relinquishment of property from illegal users and the implementation of the decisions of the Housing and Property Claims Commission of Kosovo have been continuously delivered both by the Directorate, KPA, and the Agency (KAUVI) on the entire territory of the Republic of Kosovo without distinction.“
What about the requests made by the Serbs?
In mid-June, the head of the Kosovo Office also accused the Kosovo Agency for Comparison and Verification of Property of allegedly ignoring the decisions made in favor of Serbs when it comes to the return of their property. He alleged that the Serbs submitted more than 29,000 requests to the Agency and Habitat for the return of usurped property and that these requests were not heeded.
KoSSev asked the agency to comment on these allegations, as well as how many Serbs submitted a request for the return of their property since the war, and how many such requests have been approved so far.
The agency, however, replied that it has no record of the ethnicity, „or any other affiliation,“ of the parties that submitted the requests.
„But the parties enjoyed the right to choose the language for submitting requests or responses as litigants. The Albanian and Serbian languages are the languages for which the parties enjoyed the freedom of choice, while the decisions of the Commission were in three equal languages: English, Albanian, and Serbian. In case of language differences in the decisions, the English language is used as the basic language of the Housing and Property Claims Commission of Kosovo.”
Back in 2018, however, BIRN reported, citing the statement of the agency’s spokesperson for this media, Arian Krasniqi – „96.84 per cent, or 41,399 of usurped properties belonged to Serbs“.
Finally, they now say that the final decisions of the Housing and Property Claims Commission are final, enforceable, and cannot be subject to review by any judicial or administrative authority.
„As a result, the agency has a legal obligation to return the property into the possession of the successful applicants by freeing the property from illegal users,“ they said in response.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
