Marko Jakšić, leader of the civic initiative “North for All”, was questioned by Kosovo Police on Tuesday following a Facebook comment deemed offensive and directed at Kosovo’s caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti.
The summons was confirmed to KoSSev by Erduan Balliqi, police spokesperson for the northern region, who said the questioning concerned an insult aimed at “a person,” without explicitly naming Kurti. Jakšić complied with the request and appeared for what police classified as an informational interview, registered as a misdemeanour under “disturbing public order and peace.”
Police acted approximately twelve hours after the comment was posted. The message, written as a response to a Facebook post by Kurti marking the anniversary of ethnic violence in North Mitrovica, contained vulgar language.
Speaking to KoSSev after the interview, Jakšić said it was initially unclear in what capacity he was being summoned.
“Like many Serbs here, I have experience with what I would call Albin Kurti’s political police because of publicly expressed views,” Jakšić said. “As a local politician representing the Serbian community, I may have addressed another political figure in a vulgar way, and that was interpreted as a criminal offence.”
He explained that a police inspector first contacted him by phone, asking him to come in “for a talk,” without further clarification. Only upon arrival, Jakšić said, was he informed that the case concerned insulting “a certain person” on social media—something he immediately understood referred to Kurti.
According to Jakšić, officers asked him to explain the meaning of the Serbian-language expression he used. He responded by saying that his civic initiative had defeated both Kurti’s Self-Determination Movement (Vetëvendosje) and the Serb List in local elections in North Mitrovica, and that the phrase—though crude—was meant politically, to suggest repeating that result at the polls.
He further argued that the word in question is context-dependent in Serbian and can carry multiple meanings, even when used as an insult.
Jakšić said he also pointed out what he described as selective police efficiency, noting that threats against Serbian politicians often go unaddressed.
“I told them I feel like I’m living in Orwell’s 1984, and that they are acting as a ‘thought police’—persecuting Serbian thought, or free thought,” Jakšić said.
He added that he welcomes the prospect of court proceedings.
“I see this as a case brought by a ‘thought police.’ I feel like I’m in Orwell’s 1984. I look forward to going to court and presenting my defence—and since I allegedly insulted Mr Kurti, I look forward to facing him and seeing what exactly frightens him about what I wrote.”
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
