Former Serbian officer arrested in connection with kidnapping of a person in Kosovo

Kosovo police arrested one person and said they found weapons and ammunition during a house search.

He is accused of involvement in the alleged wounding and kidnapping of Milan Vukashinović on November 1 in Kosovo.

"During the raid, the following material evidence was found and seized: nine mobile phones, a laptop, three A4 documents, a hunting rifle with 39 cartridges, a hunting rifle cartridge vest, and a gun barrel. The suspect, after being interviewed by the prosecutor, was taken into custody," the 24-hour Police report said.

On the evening of December 20, the acting Minister of Internal Affairs, Xhelal Sveçla, said that the arrested person, VM, had been a member of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs and was later integrated into the Kosovo Police. According to Sveçla, he subsequently resigned from the Kosovo Police.

"There are well-founded suspicions that the arrested person has continuously collaborated with and supported the security structures of Serbia, including the kidnapping of Milan Vukashinović, who was seriously injured during the kidnapping and is currently being treated in a hospital in Serbia," Svečla wrote on Facebook on the evening of December 20.

According to Kosovo authorities, Vukashinović was allegedly injured and then kidnapped in the village of Jellakce, near Leposavic, on November 1, before being taken to the Prokuplje hospital, and then to the Niš Clinical Center, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.

Vukašinović's family has filed a lawsuit in Serbia against individuals who are members of the Serbian Army, or the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, or Milan Radoićić, former deputy leader of the Serbian List, who claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on Kosovo Police in Banjska, Zvečan, in 2023.

Vukashinović was employed by the Kosovo Insurance Bureau at the border crossing in Jarinje, in northern Kosovo.

Kosovo's acting Prime Minister, Albin Kurti, previously stated that Vukashinović was attacked because he opposed "the policies of the regime of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić."

Following the announcement of the suspected kidnapping, Radio Free Europe, using forensic facial identification tools, has confirmed that Vukashinović is the same person who on June 28 of this year had spoken publicly about the pressures he had faced, in an interview with journalist and former Serbian MP Nemanja Šarović, for the Serbian television station KTV.

During that interview, he stated that Serbs were forced to leave Kosovo institutions in November 2022 under pressure from the Serbian List, and that he himself had been a victim of pressure, adding that he did not feel safe traveling to Serbia because he had refused to resign.

"They have slandered me about many things, they have linked me to Albanians, I am not sure about traveling to Serbia. I am here in Kosovo, I bypass Serbia," he said.

The acting Minister of Internal Affairs of Kosovo, Xhelal Sveçla, also said that a former member of the Serbian MUP has been arrested in connection with the "kidnapping of Kosovo citizen Milan Vukashinović."

According to Sveçla, the arrested VM was integrated into the Kosovo Police, based on the Brussels agreement of 2013, but later resigned. According to him, he was arrested during an operation by the Police and the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, in Leshak.

"There are well-founded suspicions that the arrested person has continuously collaborated with and supported the security structures of Serbia, including the kidnapping of Milan Vukashinović, who was seriously injured during the kidnapping and is currently being treated in a hospital in Serbia," Svečla wrote on Facebook.

According to Kosovo authorities, Vukashinović was allegedly kidnapped inside Kosovo territory on November 1.

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