SANCTION PERPETRATORS, PROTECT RAŠKOVIĆ AND HIS FAMILY

BELGRADE, AUGUST 12 /SRNA/ – The Raška-Prizren Diocese has called for an immediate, independent and efficient investigation by the competent prosecutor’s office and police inspectorate, with direct monitoring by the Ombudsman and EULEX, into the brutal beating of Nenad Rašković, who was seriously injured in an attack by three police officers of the self-proclaimed Kosovo.

The Diocese states that all persons found to have directly participated in the brutal beating of Rašković must be temporarily removed from operational duties until the investigation is completed, while he and his family must be provided protection from any further pressure or intimidation.

“This case is also a serious warning at a time when KFOR is beginning the gradual integration of the police of the self-proclaimed Kosovo into its security system around the Visoki Dečani Monastery, while simultaneously reducing its permanent presence on the main bridge over the Ibar River in Kosovska Mitrovica,” the Diocese announced.

They believe that, although KFOR has confirmed that it remains the primary responsible security factor for Visoki Dečani, any further expansion of the self-proclaimed Kosovo police’s role at these extremely sensitive locations, under the current circumstances and without the trust of the Serb people, would be extremely reckless and dangerous.

They recalled that KFOR itself stressed that this process is conditioned by the situation on the ground and can be reviewed.

“A severely beaten man in a hospital bed, previous cases of abuse without a publicly established outcome, and the lowest level of trust among Serbs in the police of the self-proclaimed Kosovo are facts on the ground that cannot be ignored. Without trust there is no security, while the people cannot be entrusted to the protection of an institution whose conduct they fear,” the Diocese said.

The Raška-Prizren Diocese said it had received Rašković’s harrowing testimony with pain and indignation.

It pointed out that international representatives cannot simultaneously speak of an improving security situation and then remain silent for months about visible injuries sustained by people who claim they were inflicted by police members.

According to the Diocese, this case must not end with yet another announcement of proceedings without publicly established facts and accountability, adding that the prolonged silence and delayed reactions of international representatives to numerous cases of police abuse are no longer reassuring.

“This is interpreted on the ground as an absence of consequences, creates a sense of impunity and encourages further abuses by the police of the self-proclaimed Kosovo and its institutions,” the Diocese said.

Nenad Rašković, a Serb who was abused and beaten by members of the so-called Kosovo police, is currently being transported to the Emergency Centre of the Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade for further hospitalization.

Rašković said yesterday that three police officers pulled him out of his family home, after which they tied him to a tree and beat him, demanding that he give them a rifle he does not have.

Zlatan Elek, director of the Clinical Hospital Centre in Kosovska Mitrovica, said that Rašković had sustained multiple injuries and severe psychological trauma.

Seven other Serbs, in addition to Nenad Rašković, have also suffered torture at the hands of the so-called Kosovo police, it was said at a press conference of the Serb List in north Kosovska Mitrovica.