Kosovo police special forces storm Strpce; Action in progress

Kosovo police special forces storm Strpce; Action in progress

The Chief Prosecutor of the Basic Prosecutor's Office in Urosevac, Shukri Jashari, stated that this is the first phase of the investigation into the abuse of official position, i.e. giving bribes, according to Reporters.

According to the paper, Jashari said that there were no arrests for now and that the action was ongoing.

Gazeta Express states that more than 10 locations, properties and houses of the former mayor of Strpce and other officials of the Serb List were searched.

Other Kosovo media reported that 10 people had been arrested, including the former mayor of Strpce, the director of Urbanism, and several other officials and business owners.

They are charged with committing criminal acts of bribery and abuse of official position or authority, the Basic Prosecutor's Office in Urosevac announced. Koha states that it is about corruption during the construction of facilities in Brezovica, and that the police told them that the details will be known after the end of the action. As Novosti has learned, the municipality is currently under blockade, and all streets are blocked, and citizens cannot function normally.

Majority of Strpce's inhabitants are of Serbian origin.

Petkovic: New terror

The director of the Office for Kosovo, Petar Petković, assessed that the incursion of the special Kosovo police into Štrpce and the arrest of several people is another attempt to intimidate Serbian people in the province and "new terror" of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

Under the guise and under the pretext of some kind of fight against corruption, Kurti is again sending ROSU's special forces, under full war equipment, to Serbian environments, with the sole goal of criminalizing Serbs who remained the bulwark of defending our national interests in the province. It is strange how Kurti fails to see crime in his own ranks, when all international factors know that all flows of dirty money go through Albanian communities", Petkovic said in a statement.

He said that Strpce is an obvious target because it represents a strong Serbian stronghold and the southernmost point of Serbian survival in Kosovo and Metohija. This action is not accidental, just today, when President Aleksandar Vučić is supposed to sign six important agreements within the 'Open Balkans' initiative, as a step towards a better future, and it is obviously coordinated with last night's extremist rampage and burning of Serbian flags in Tirana", Petković concluded.