The wasteland of Kosovo’s lawlessness: Defense or the last days of property in the north

By Dragutin Nenezić

We don’t ask for much: we would only like to have our life and property and that we are free to live as we want.

Reads the letter of Serbs from Kosovo addressed to Sultan Abdul Hamid Kano II, 1899.

I’m writing this on January 13, the date that has special importance for me, since almost every year I usually spend this day in Zvecan, celebrating the Serbian New Year, or what is also known as Little Christmas. This year, however, I’m not, because I practically have no one to celebrate it with – for one reason or another, a good number of my friends aren’t there anymore. Although this sounds quite banal compared to the people who lost lives, freedom or peaceful family life in their hometowns in over past year, all of which I still have, I still need to write about it, since I am aware that the majority of people outside of northern Kosovo do not understand what extent this area has been ravaged recently.

On the other hand, I don’t want to be a defeatist either, and I see a grain of hope in some recent events that this year will not be the year of the final defeat of the north of Kosovo. For this reason, I will write about what I know best, although I have avoided it for a long time, specifically about legal and property issues in Kosovo.

As readers of the KoSSev portal are no doubt already aware, last week, on the holiday of St. Stefan, to whom the Banjska Monastery is dedicated, a translation of the verdict arrived by which annulled the decision on expropriation of land in the municipalities of Leposavic and Zubin Potok to construct bases. A similar verdict was already passed in October at the request of a group of landowners from Leposavic affected by the expropriation, so it can be said that the whole process has been brought back to the beginning.

Everything that happened from February last year until today is a good example of how the Serbs in the north of Kosovo can fight for their rights, and that if they do so, the Pristina system has no choice but to accommodate them, not because it is in favour of the rule of law, but because it makes mistakes in its steps to such an extent that it has to correct itself in order to maintain the semblance of its own existence.

However, that system does not like the Serbs, and whoever does not understand that, does not understand anything, even though there are examples from history (like the one quoted in the introduction) right in front of one’s nose, which, as is the case with Kosovo, always happen again and again. In order to avoid situations like this one regarding expropriation, that system has developed a number of new forms of usurpation of property, to which it tries to subjugate the north of Kosovo, all applying the Self-Determination program „Alternative for the North“ from 2012.

Let’s start with the most luxurious one – in the past period, the police forces were entrusted with the use of the spas in Banjska, as well as a villa on Lake Gazivode. While the villa was confiscated as part of the criminal proceedings, the situation with the spa is a bit more complex, since it was once given to the church by RMHK Trepca, which was completely ignored by the Pristina Privatization Agency, which entrusted it to the police. In addition to such legally questionable behavior, the question of justification can also be raised, since nowhere in the world is it normal for the police to use such luxurious facilities.

For example, luxury property confiscated in Serbia as part of criminal proceedings is usually sold or given for use to vulnerable persons. This only exposes the essence of the deployment of the Pristina police in northern Kosovo – it is closer to a safari than a security mission, and after the safari you should relax in the hot tub.

Furthermore, phantom works are being carried out on private property, without expropriation procedures taking place and without legally required labelling, as in the case of the road between the villages of Vidomirice and Banov Do. Although its construction was temporarily suspended due to the criminal charges filed, it was then continued. It seems that it is being done without expropriation on the basis that there is indeed a road recorded in the Pristina cadastral records, but this is certainly not enough, since the legally required comparison and verification procedure, whereby the Pristina and Belgrade cadastral records would be compared, has not been carried out, and even with that procedure, all construction works must be labeled.

It is clear here that the road has no other function than to facilitate the movement of Pristina’s security forces in northern Kosovo, which after the deployment and stationing of these forces represents the second or third phase of the occupation of that territory. However, the way this is done is particularly dangerous, since in the future everyone can be deprived of their property without any procedure and basis if a suitable excuse is found in the Pristina cadastral records, which only proves that Pristina has essentially given up on the comparison and verification process, thus effectively killing the Brussels agreement on the cadastre.

Similar to this are the cases of destruction and appropriation of religious heritage, from the desecration of the old cemetery in Mitrovica, to the illegal construction of the church in Vinarce, to the assertion that the church in Gornji Strmac is Catholic. There, too, works are carried out without expropriation, and in some places (in the case of cemeteries) without labelling, under the auspices of ministries led by Self-Determination personnel. What is differentia specifica here is that the property owned, maintained or used by the Serbian Orthodox Church is sought to be either destroyed or appropriated. Where possible, in the spirit of Ottoman appropriation (e.g. as in the case of the tomb of the Holy Martyr Vasilije Pećki), Orthodox shrines are declared to be someone else’s, in the cases of Vinarce and Gornji Strmec – as Catholic – either on the construction board (Vinarce), or in acts of the competent ministry that can only be revealed by Kolasin enthusiasm (Gornji Strmac).

Where this is not possible or perhaps practical, in the spirit of the newly established tradition of destroying Serbian cemeteries, Orthodox shrines are plowed over. No one asks the Serbian Orthodox Church anything, and in some places, it is not even allowed to react. Certainly, it is clear that this can happen in any place where there are no more Serb residents or priests.

Finally, there is the allocation of a plot near Vojni Remont to the police by the illegitimate municipal leadership in North Mitrovica. In addition to what is explicitly stated in the „Alternative for the North“ program, this is an indication of the true function of the usurped institutions – to make formally legal decisions, thereby avoiding all the above-described usurpation modalities that are formally illegal, and in fact to implement the their party’s programme, instead of laws of the country they consider their own.

Although it is clear that Kurti’s plan is to make the north equal with the south, and to successfully implement that plan, attention should also be drawn to the fact that methods from the north are used to further break down the south, as in the case of the expropriation between Gracanica and Laplje Selo in order to expand the archaeological site Ulpijana. Unfortunately, there is no organized reaction here, as in the case of expropriation in the north, especially since there is a functional and legitimate municipality in the Pristina system. Of course, this is also about metapolitics: the confirmation of non-Serb and „pre-Serb“ Albanian presence on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, and by, look at that, the same ministry that appropriates Serbian churches and plows through Serbian cemeteries.

The only question that remains is why, in the era of lidar sensors, someone who pretends to be an expert decides to dig up 70 hectares of fertile land, and the answer is, unfortunately, because it is Serbian land.

How to fight against this malice? First of all, I think it must be fought, even though it is essentially a futile process, since the legal struggle (which is all I can and want to write about) is limited to the system against which it is being fought. The struggle gives people hope, and leaves a paper trail for future generations. Criminal charges should definitely be filed, since it has been shown that they work either permanently (the cemetery in Mitrovica) or temporarily (the Vidomirice-Banov Do road). As many judicial and administrative proceedings as possible should be initiated, since it is clear that sooner or later they must bear fruit, although the example of the Visoki Decani Monastery makes it clear that decisions that go in favour of the Serbs or the Serbian Orthodox Church will never be implemented in this system.

In the end, you need to be united, and at all levels. In the north, everyone should act together, as in the case of expropriation – citizens, legitimate municipal leaders, civil society, and experts. Then, since there is already so much talk about the ASM, it should be preceded or followed by an organic unity between the north and the south, which will not be at the level of political organization, but at the level of practical politics. Just like that, the Serbs will defend themselves. Without that, though it is with a heavy heart that I write this, I fear that their last days may come. And this text of mine is, in that sense, a debt to all those from the beginning of this text, with whom I once celebrated the Serbian New Year in Zvecan, and with whom I hope and believe that I will celebrate again, in this world or the next.

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