Petkovic meets with OSCE's McGurk

BELGRADE - The director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic met with the head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo-Metohija Gerard McGurk in Belgrade on Friday to discuss the political and security situation in Serbia's southern province.

Petkovic noted that Belgrade expected concrete moves to safeguard the guaranteed rights of the Serbs and actions towards a release of the Office's Assistant Director Igor Popovic and other political prisoners.

Petkovic briefed McGurk on the very volatile political and security situation in the province, especially following Popovic's arrest and a series of escalatory moves made by Albin Kurti to the detriment of the Serbs, the Office for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement.

By arresting Popovic, Pristina has directly jeopardised the process of normalisation of relations and the dialogue itself, which cannot proceed as long as Popovic is in a Pristina prison without any wrongdoing whatsoever, Petkovic noted.

Through the dialogue, Popovic, an expert jurist, has been actively involved in numerous issues and, with his arrest, Kurti has dealt a direct blow to the Brussels talks, Petkovic said.

All fundamental human rights of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs are violated on a daily basis and Popovic's arrest is also a threat to the right to freedom of movement, thought and expression, he noted.

"His case directly reflects a lack of any rule of law in Pristina. Popovic has demanded justice for all victims and punishment for criminals and, through his arrest, Pristina has demonstrated it has no intention of facing its criminal past," Petkovic noted.

All Kurti is doing is aimed at creating an ethnically clean Kosovo-Metohija and at an expulsion of Serbs and, for that reason, he makes escalatory moves almost on a daily basis to escalate tensions and spark new crises on the ground and is trying to dodge the commitment of establishing a Community of Serb Municipalities, Petkovic said.

"From the OSCE mission, Belgrade expects concrete and visible moves to safeguard the guaranteed rights of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs, but also actions towards a release of Igor Popovic as well as all incarcerated innocent Serbs, and it will continue to insist on that," he noted.