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Kosovo seeks international engagement after Serbia arrests KLA veteran
2026-02-07 11:57:17 / KOSOVA
Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora has called for the engagement of the international community, after Serbia arrested a veteran of the Kosovo Liberation Army a day earlier, under allegations of crimes against the civilian population.
The MFA said on January 6 that it had received information about the arrest of Kosovo citizen Mitehat Llozhani upon entering Serbia from the Batrovci border crossing on the border with Croatia.
This ministry said that the Kosovo Liaison Office has submitted an official request to the Serbian Liaison Office, requesting confirmation of the arrest, clarification of the reasons for the detention, and other important information about the case.
"Also, the Liaison Office of the Republic of Kosovo in Serbia has notified the European Union Delegation to Serbia of the case, and has sent verbal notes to the diplomatic missions of the QUINT countries accredited in Serbia, with the aim of ensuring the engagement of international partners in protecting the rights and security of citizens of the Republic of Kosovo," said the MFA.
The MFA also stressed that the head of the Kosovo Liaison Office in Serbia, Jetish Jashari, is in contact with the family of the arrested person and will submit an official request to visit him.
Authorities in Serbia on the evening of February 5 confirmed the arrest of the KLA veteran and said he has been sent to detention for 48 hours.
According to Serbia, he is suspected of having undergone training as a member of the KLA of the Dukagjini Operational Zone in 1998 and 1999 “after which he participated in terrorist attacks against members of the Serbian MUP and the Yugoslav army”. The report also states that “as a member of the group commanded by Ramush Haradinaj, he participated in the kidnapping and massacre of police officers”.
But the Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans Organization told Radio Free Europe that the arrested man had participated in several training exercises in Albania, but there is no information that he had been on the front lines in Kosovo.
The vice president of this veterans organization, Gazmend Syla, told Radio Free Europe that Llozhani's veteran's card was found in his pocket during a search by Serbian authorities.
Serbia has repeatedly arrested Kosovo citizens on charges of war crimes in Kosovo in 1998-99, and only in 2025 were several such arrests recorded.
Serbia during the 1990s characterized the KLA as a terrorist organization, while for Kosovo, the KLA is the organization that protected the local population from the repression of the Yugoslav armed forces. /rel
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