Serbian gov't office: Kurti wants to cover up political defeats by arresting Serbs

BELGRADE - The Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija said on Monday the most recent wave of arrests of Serbs in the province under the false pretext of war crimes, on the second day of Easter, "fully demonstrated Pristina's desperation and an anti-Serb orientation of Albin Kurti, who wants to cover up his political defeats by attacking Serbs."

In a statement, the Office said it was no coincidence the arrests had taken place on the day "Kurti again failed to push through his candidate for the speaker of the so-called Kosovo assembly and suffered a debacle."

It said one of the arrestees, Boban T - who has been living and working in Lipljan, Kosovo-Metohija, for a full 26 years after the conflict in the province - was a political victim of the Kurti regime and that he had lived peacefully in his home, only to be arrested on false charges on Monday.

Nadica C, who had been visiting Lipljan for years without any problems until Kurti and Pristina's interior minister "decided to declare her a war criminal without evidence", was arrested under the same circumstances, it also said.

A total of three Serbs were arrested in Lipljan and Pristina earlier in the day on charges of alleged war crimes against civilians during the 1998-1999 conflict in Kosovo-Metohija.

The Office for Kosovo-Metohija said attorneys had been assigned to the arrestees immediately and that any assistance would be provided as well.

It also said it would contact all international missions over this "political retaliation" against the Serbs to point out a new wave of repression against them.