Seven school directors from Gracanica released
A court in Pristina lifted detention for seven directors of Serbian institutions from Gracanica, while two colleagues from Kosovska Kamenica were placed under house arrest, as the EU called for a fair process.
- A Basic Court in Pristina lifted the detention of seven directors of Serbian education and health institutions from Gracanica.
- The released directors must report to police until June 19, while the investigation into alleged influence on voters continues.
- Two directors of primary schools from Kosovska Kamenica were placed under house arrest.
- Brussels said it expects a fair and transparent court process.
For Belgrade, every move by the Pristina judiciary against Serbian directors in Kosovo is at once a legal and a political matter, because it touches institutions that the state funds and through which the Serb community south of the Ibar runs its daily life. The Basic Court in Pristina lifted the one-month detention of seven directors of Serbian education and health institutions from Gracanica, who are accused of allegedly influencing voters, and replaced it with a lighter measure. They were released on the obligation to report regularly to police until June 19, which means the case against them is not closed but continues while they are free.
These are people who run schools and health facilities in an environment where the Serbian system and Kosovo institutions have operated side by side for years. Those released are Milica Dimic, Boban Petrovic, Nebojsa Rasic, Bratislav Lazic, Sasa Mladenovic, Mirjana Dimitrijevic and Ljubisa Karadzic. The court did not say it had dropped the charges, but ruled that a lighter measure sufficiently secures the defendants’ presence during the investigation. The duty to report to police until June 19 keeps the procedure open and the directors in constant contact with Kosovo authorities.
What does the gap between Gracanica and Kamenica mean?
On the same day detention was lifted in Gracanica, two primary school directors from Kosovska Kamenica, Negovan Vasic and Dragan Krstic, were placed under house arrest. The difference in measures within the same wave of arrests shows that the Pristina judiciary is not treating the cases uniformly, but grading them from police reporting to home confinement. For the community in the Kosovo Pomoravlje area that distinction is not a formality: house arrest for a school director effectively means the institution is left without a fully functioning head in the middle of the school and administrative year.
The arrests drew a response from education workers. Colleagues across the Kosovo Pomoravlje area held peaceful half-hour protests of support, gathering in front of schools to show that they see the detained directors as part of their professional community rather than as isolated individuals. The protests passed without incident, but clearly signaled that the case is seen as pressure on the entire Serbian education network, not only on the named individuals.
How are Brussels and Belgrade responding?
The European Union said it expects a fair process, which is a diplomatically routine but not harmless signal. The High Representative and institutions in Brussels watch closely every step in which the Serb community in Kosovo faces the Kosovo judiciary, because such cases spill over into the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue under the EU umbrella. A call for a fair and transparent process is at once a message to Pristina that the procedure must withstand outside scrutiny and a message to Belgrade that Brussels is keeping the case on its radar.
For Belgrade, a delicate balance remains: insisting on protecting the directors as employees of a state-funded system, while avoiding steps that would turn the case into an open political conflict in front of European mediators. The next date everyone is watching is June 19, when the deadline to report to police in Gracanica expires and when it may become clearer whether the Pristina prosecution is heading toward an indictment or toward dropping the case. Will the case against the directors end before a court or at the negotiating table in Brussels?
