On Monday, a court in Belgrade, Serbia, ordered the release of three Kosovar policemen who had been arrested in mid-June by Serbian police, in a case that had once again escalated tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, linked to deeply rooted ethnic and territorial issues and which in recent months have in fact led to a new crisis. The three policemen had been accused of having entered Serbian territory illegally, which Kosovo denied, instead accusing the Serbian police of arresting them on Kosovo territory. The Serbian police had then indicted them for illegal possession of weapons and explosives: for their release and the easing of tensions between the two parties they had been done various pressures both from the United States and from countries of the European Union.
The Belgrade court that ordered the release of the three policemen said they were free to return to Kosovo “pending any further proceedings”, without adding details. Serbia’s chief negotiator with Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, said the criminal case against the three policemen was not yet concluded. Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti meanwhile called their detention a “violation of human rights”.
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