Post by radovic on Dec 7, 2007 12:57:35 GMT -5
Serb-Kosovo Police Cooperate
Email a friend
Save article
Print article
Increase text size
Decrease text size07 December 2007 Pristina _ Kosovo and Serbian police are cooperating in the protection of war crimes witnesses in an ongoing trial in Belgrade, police officials confirmed on Friday.
By Krenar Gashi in Pristina
Two officers of a special unit of the Kosovo Police Service, KPS, are currently in Belgrade to protect Kosovar witnesses in a court case involving a wartime massacre in Suva Reka/Suhareka in south-eastern Kosovo.
Veton Elshani, KPS spokesperson, told Balkan Insight that KPS officers who are protecting the witnesses in Belgrade are not armed. He rated the cooperation between two authorities as very successful.
“This is a sign of the cooperation that the KPS has with Serbia’s police. For the time being this is going through the UN police in Kosovo”, said Elshani, and added that Kosovo police “needs to have direct contacts with the Serbian authorities in order to fight crime effectively”.
A special court official in Belgrade confirmed for Balkan Insight that "the two [police officers] are here at the request of witnesses and prosecution, and we treat them as their companions."
Kosovo has been administered by the UN since 1999, when NATO’s bombing forced the Serbian authorities to withdraw from the territory, stopping an ethnic cleansing process by Serbian forces.
Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor brought charges against eight members of the Serb security forces in April 2006 for offences committed against civilians in Suva Reka/Suhareka in south-east Kosovo on March 26, 1999.
A total of 48 members of the Berisha family were murdered on that day, among them 13 children, including six under the age of four, a woman aged 100 and a pregnant woman.
Email a friend
Save article
Print article
Increase text size
Decrease text size07 December 2007 Pristina _ Kosovo and Serbian police are cooperating in the protection of war crimes witnesses in an ongoing trial in Belgrade, police officials confirmed on Friday.
By Krenar Gashi in Pristina
Two officers of a special unit of the Kosovo Police Service, KPS, are currently in Belgrade to protect Kosovar witnesses in a court case involving a wartime massacre in Suva Reka/Suhareka in south-eastern Kosovo.
Veton Elshani, KPS spokesperson, told Balkan Insight that KPS officers who are protecting the witnesses in Belgrade are not armed. He rated the cooperation between two authorities as very successful.
“This is a sign of the cooperation that the KPS has with Serbia’s police. For the time being this is going through the UN police in Kosovo”, said Elshani, and added that Kosovo police “needs to have direct contacts with the Serbian authorities in order to fight crime effectively”.
A special court official in Belgrade confirmed for Balkan Insight that "the two [police officers] are here at the request of witnesses and prosecution, and we treat them as their companions."
Kosovo has been administered by the UN since 1999, when NATO’s bombing forced the Serbian authorities to withdraw from the territory, stopping an ethnic cleansing process by Serbian forces.
Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor brought charges against eight members of the Serb security forces in April 2006 for offences committed against civilians in Suva Reka/Suhareka in south-east Kosovo on March 26, 1999.
A total of 48 members of the Berisha family were murdered on that day, among them 13 children, including six under the age of four, a woman aged 100 and a pregnant woman.