Kosovo: Five Serbs Arrested in Racak II Case

Kosovo police on Sunday, June 14, detained five Serbs in the municipalities of Strpce and Gnjilane, in a case that Pristina’s judiciary is pursuing under the name Racak II. According to available accounts, the arrests were carried out in the villages of Vica, Berevce and Gotovusa in the Strpce area, as well as in the village of Ponesh near Gnjilane. The detainees are identified only by their initials, N.P, S.J, B.P, S.M. and S.S, and prosecutors describe them as former members of Serbia’s Interior Ministry.

The case is tied to events from January 1999, a period that predates the arrival of international forces in Kosovo. Pristina’s special prosecution says that, more than two and a half decades later, it now holds evidence against those detained. Statements relayed by the media claim that searches turned up weapons, uniforms, handcuffs, 43 rounds of various calibers, gas masks, two videotapes, license plates and a camera. For now, only the Pristina side confirms these claims.

What do the two sides say?

Belgrade’s reaction came the same day. The Serbian government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija called the operation a continuation of a policy of terror and reprisal against the Serb population in the south of the province. The Office argues that the arrests, which come in waves and without prior notice, aim to drive Serbs out of areas where they still make up a majority or a significant share of the population.

The Serb List went a step further. The party says the detainees have lived in Kosovo for years, are raising families, and have no reason to flee or hide, which, in its view, undercuts the notion of dangerous perpetrators evading justice. Lawyers for the detainees are expected to challenge the grounds for detention.

Pristina, for its part, presents the case as routine judicial work and a war crimes investigation that has nothing to do with the ethnicity of the suspects. The special prosecution insists this involves evidence gathered over a long period rather than a sudden sweep. The entire dispute moves between those two pictures, political reprisal and judicial procedure, which is exactly why the legal and political dimensions of the case are so hard to separate.

Why now, 27 years later?

The obvious question is timing. Racak is a topic that resurfaces periodically in Serb-Albanian relations, most often when the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is stalled or facing a new round of talks. Opening the Racak II case after 27 years, in Serb-majority areas such as the Strpce district and the area around Gnjilane, inevitably gets read through that lens as well.

So far there has been no official reaction from senior international representatives, nor confirmation that the detainees had access to a lawyer from the first hour. Belgrade has announced it will raise the case through diplomatic channels and with its international partners. Whether Racak II remains a judicial procedure or grows into a new point of contention in an already fragile dialogue will become clear in the coming days. And how do you read this move by Pristina, as the work of institutions or as political pressure on the remaining Serbs in Kosovo?