Serbian court orders investigation of 3 jailed Kosovo policemen

The Serbian Prosecutor’s Office is ordering the continuation of arrests of police officers arrested this week in disputed circumstances.

A Serbian court has ordered the detention and investigation of three Kosovo police officers arrested in a border area this week in disputed circumstances.

Kosovo said the three officers were arrested on its territory on Wednesday by Serb troops who had crossed the border. Belgrade has said they were arrested by the police in Serbia.

The prosecutor’s office in Kraljevo, a city in southwestern Serbia, said it charged the three police officers with unauthorized production, possession, carrying and trafficking of weapons and explosives.

“The preliminary relief judge of the Supreme Court in Kraljevo has ordered the arrest of all suspects,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

A US envoy called on Serbia to release the trio, saying the agents had not deliberately crossed the border and that the “probable scenarios” were that they had been abducted from Kosovo or “accidentally crossed the border”.

The three “did not intend to be in Serbia and should be released,” US Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar told reporters during an online briefing.

This “escalation on top of a previous escalation” creates “really some very difficult conditions for the region, not just for Serbia and Kosovo,” Escobar said.

The detentions were the latest in a series of incidents that have sparked unrest in the area and raised concerns about renewed violence between Serbia and Kosovo.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has demanded the release of the three, calling their arrests an act of aggression by Serbia. In response to the arrests, Kosovo has banned all vehicles with Serbian registration plates from entering its territory.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied the allegations and accused Kurti of inciting conflict.

The United States and the UK urged Kosovo and Serbia to ease tensions and called for the immediate release of the Kosovo police officers, while EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell called for crisis talks with Kurti for next week and Vucic invested.

Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia after the 1998–99 war with the support of the West. Serbia still considers Kosovo part of its territory.