ČELIĆ: MORE THAN ONE MILLION SERB LAND PLOTS HAVE BEEN USURPED SINCE 1999

BELGRADE, NOVEMBER 12 /SRNA/ - Duško Čelić, an associate professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Priština, temporarily based in Kosovska Mitrovica, said that physical violence against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija since 1999 had been accompanied by the seizure of their property, adding that, according to UNMIK data, more than one million Serb-owned land plots had been usurped.

"Of the approximately 2.5 million cadastral plots in Kosovo and Metohija, more than one million had been usurped. That is more than 39 percent, an unprecedented scale of land usurpation," Čelić said.

He emphasized that UNMIK data also pointed to a large number of residential buildings that had been destroyed or usurped.

"The process of usurpation accelerated further after 2023, following Priština's tightening of measures in northern Kosovo and Metohija," Čelić said, adding that in recent months, the destruction and usurpation of Serb property has been ongoing in Gazivode, northern Kosovska Mitrovica and Zvečan.

Čelić pointed out that courts in self-proclaimed Kosovo, instead of providing protection, serve as instruments for violating the rights of Serbs.

"I have also come across openly discriminatory rulings. I could not compare this situation with that in any well-governed country in Europe, or indeed anywhere in the world," Čelić told RTS.

He stressed that local courts very often act not only inefficiently but also in an openly discriminatory manner when it comes to protecting the property rights of Serbs.