PRISTINA: Kosovo’s acting prime minister on Wednesday called on the international community not to consider Serbia a normal state until it hands over those responsible for a deadly incursion by heavily armed Serb gunmen in 2023.
Albin Kurti visited the grave of Afrim Bunjaku, a police officer shot dead in the gunfight in Banjska. The attack also left three Serb gunmen dead.
Kosovo has accused Serbia of involvement, a claim that Belgrade has denied.
Kurti said the incursion was an “aggressive and terrorist attack” funded and supported by Belgrade officials and President Aleksandar Vucic.
“We call on the international actors not to consider Serbia a normal state as long as it doesn’t hand over its criminals,” he said.
Prosecutors have charged 45 people, alleging they were trying to break away the Serb-majority municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo and join Serbia proper.
Only three Serb defendants were arrested and were present at the trial that started last year. They pleaded not guilty to charges of violating constitutional and legal order, terror activities, funding terrorism and money laundering.
If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Among those charged in absentia was Milan Radoicic, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and Vucic.
Serbia briefly detained Radoicic, who had fled back there after the shooting. Radoicic denied charges of criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of weapons and explosives and grave acts against public safety, but admitted he was part of the paramilitary group involved in the gunfight. He was released.
Radoicic is under US and British sanctions for his alleged criminal activity. Serbia said that Radoicic and his group acted on their own.
Serbia’s independent media have reported that Radoicic’s men were deployed to intimidate anti-government protesters at almost daily rallies challenging Vucic’s firm rule in the country.
In Belgrade, right-wing supporters displayed nationalist banners and torches at a vigil on Tuesday evening honoring the three Serb paramilitaries who were killed in the clash in Banjska, and calling them “heroes.” Similar vigils were held in other towns.
European Union and US officials have demanded that Serbia bring the perpetrators to justice.
On Wednesday the British and German embassies urged Serbian authorities to act on the matter as soon as possible.
Relations between Serbia and its former breakaway province remain tense. Talks facilitated by Brussels seem to have stalled while Belgrade is confronted with continuous anti-government protests. In Kosovo, the Parliament’s political deadlock has hampered the creation of a new Cabinet.
Kosovo was a Serbian province until NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left about 13,000 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out. Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008. It is recognized by most countries but not by Serbia and its close allies, Russia and China.
Kosovo calls for international pressure on Serbia over deadly 2023 gunfight
https://arab.news/pu8pn
Kosovo calls for international pressure on Serbia over deadly 2023 gunfight
- Kosovo has accused Serbia of involvement, a claim that Belgrade has denied
- Prosecutors have charged 45 people, alleging they were trying to break away the Serb-majority municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo and join Serbia proper
Protests across globe mark one week of Iran war
- In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colors of the Iranian flags on their cheeks
- Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians
PARIS, France: Lion-emblazoned flags of pre-revolution Iran fluttered in cities across the world on Saturday as demonstrators took to the streets a week after the start of the war in the Middle East.
Europe, Africa and the Americas saw demonstrations, with some protesting against Iran’s Islamic regime, others railing against the war, and some in support of Iran’s late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first US-Israeli strikes of the conflict.
Paris saw two demonstrations: one supporting the US-based Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, to head up a transition, and another denouncing that scenario.
“I support Pahlavi who is calling for a revolution,” Masoud Ghanaatian, 35, a student, told AFP at a protest in southern Paris, where participants carried photos of the late shah’s son and waved US, Israeli and pre-revolution Iran flags.
“He’s a democrat. He can oversee a transition and promises to organize elections.”
Hundreds of pro-Pahlavi demonstrations also gathered in Stockholm, holding up pictures of him and his late father.
But farther north, protesters wearing yellow vests reading “Free Iran” showed off stickers on their hands that read “No Shah, no Mullah.”
In Amsterdam protesters snaked along one of the city’s canals, holding up Israeli, American and pre-revolution Iran flags, as they called on the government to invite Pahlavi to the country and to close the Iranian embassy.
In Israel, anti-war activists and police scuffled during a protest against eh war in HaBima Square in Tel Aviv.
Shortly after dawn in Britain, anti-war protesters gathered at the entrance of an air force base in Fairford, southwest of England, holding signs reading “Hands off Iran,” “Peace” and “Yanks go home.”
- ‘Assassins’ -
A demonstrations against the war also took place in Cyprus.
Outside the US consulate in Mexico City, protesters carried a placard with pictures of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with blood-soaked palms over the word “Assassins” and kicked pinatas with images of the two leaders.
In the United States, protesters carried Iranian, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and signs “Iran is not our enemy” and “No war on Iran” in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
In Washington DC, demonstrators gathered at the National Mall carrying US, Israeli and Iranian flags, with some protesters painting the colors of the Iranian flags on their cheeks.
In Boston, Iranian Americans gathered at Copley Square to call for the fall of the Islamic republic.
In South Africa — which has dragged Israel to International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide during the Gaza war, a charge Israel denies — dozens gathered in front of the US consulate in Johannesburg, holding up photos of Khamenei, the Islamic republic’s flag and signs bashing Israel.
Protesters carried pictures of Khamenei and denounced the war in central Tunis in Tunisia.
In Cape Town, Iranian pro-democracy activists and supporters of Israel waved Israeli flags and chanted slogans in the Albert Waterfront shopping mall.
Several counter-protesters carried signs denouncing Israel and in support of the Palestinians.
