Borchardt: No secret indictments for Kosovo Serbs

BELGRADE - Head of EULEX Kosovo Bernd Borchardt jas rejected the claims that the Kosovo Serbs do not trust EULEX, adding that the citizens of Kosovo who have not committed any crimes have nothing to fear, because there are no secret lists or secret indictments against Kosovo Serbs.

The claims that the Serbs in northern Kosovo are losing their confidence in EULEX's good intentions are speculations and propaganda, he told the daily Politika from Belgrade, adding that surveys conducted throughout Kosovo showed that the people in the north were happy with EULEX's work.

Based on direct contacts, EULEX knows that people want to be free of the shackles of organised crime that paralises the economy, drug abuse, domestic violence and that they want safety in traffic, he noted.

Regardless of the guarantees provided by the Serbian government, leader of the Citizen Initiative Serbia, Democracy, Justice Oliver Ivanovic and former Mitrovica chief of police Dragoljub Delibasic cannot be released pending a trial, because the Kosovo law does not allow that, he pointed out.

Ivanovic and Delibasic are suspected of involvement in an alleged war crime in 1999 and post-war incidents in 2000, including an aggravated murder.

When asked why one of the indictees from the so called Drenic group, Ismet Hadza, was released pending his trial, Borchardt responded that the question should be directed at the court.

Courts should be independent and make decisions that follow the law, he stated, stressing that he would protect the independence of any judge against political interference, and adding that the appellate had overruled the decision tto release Hadza and ordered his return into custody.

Borchardt rejected...