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Serbian police have arrested a person at the border crossing with Kosovo, Merdare, on suspicion of "war crimes" during the last war in Kosovo in 1998-99, Serbian authorities announced on Tuesday.
The Serbian Interior Ministry did not disclose the suspect’s nationality, but identified him with the initials HH, 77 years old. According to the statement, he is suspected of “in June 1999, in Podujevo, in cooperation with several members of the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army], having shot and killed a Serbian civilian.”
It is not clear when he was arrested, but the Serbian Ministry said he was taken into custody for 48 hours and that charges will be filed against him. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has contacted the Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to ask if it is aware of the arrest that took place in Merdare.
His arrest comes about a month after Serbian authorities arrested two people at the border crossing between Serbia and Hungary, Horgos, on suspicion that they had committed "war crimes against the civilian population" with members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
They were arrested at a time when Serbian authorities have been increasingly detaining Albanians, accusing them of collaborating with or being members of the KLA, or for other reasons.
On July 22, they arrested Lulzim Halili, under suspicion of being a member of the KLA. The KLA veterans' organization has denied this claim.
The KLA was a political-military force that fought for the liberation of Kosovo from Serbian rule from 1990 to 1999. Last month, Behar Preniqi was also detained at the Batrovci border crossing, on the border between Croatia and Serbia. The charges have not yet been made public.
Kosovo authorities have always considered these arrests arbitrary and have demanded their release. Kosovo and Serbia reached an Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in 2013, with the mediation of the European Union, but cooperation between them on war crimes cases has been almost non-existent./REL
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