Nenad Raskovic in Intensive Care After Police Search in Dren

Nenad Raskovic, a livestock farmer from the village of Dren in the Zubin Potok municipality, has been placed in the intensive care unit of the Clinical Hospital Center in Kosovska Mitrovica. He was admitted after officers of the Kosovo Police searched his family home on the afternoon of August 11. He says they then took him into a nearby forest, tied him to a beech tree and beat him.

Doctor Goran Radojevic said Raskovic sustained injuries to his back, head and chest, and described how he was admitted to the hospital.

“The patient was admitted to our facility and was later hospitalized in the intensive care unit… On admission he underwent a clinical examination, diagnostic tests were carried out, and he was placed in the intensive care unit to receive appropriate treatment,” he said.

Radojevic specified that Raskovic’s condition is stable, but that his injuries require monitoring.

What Raskovic Says From His Hospital Bed

Raskovic gave his account quietly, from his bed, trying to put the two days in order. He says police first came the day before, asked for identification papers and gave him a document to sign. He does not know what he signed, since, as he says, he did not read what was written on it.

He describes the second visit like this:

“And as soon as they arrived, that jeep pulled up in front of the house. ‘Where’s the weapon? Where’s your weapon?’ I said, ‘I don’t have a weapon.’ Then one of them grabbed me, picked up a piece of wood, shoved me into the house and hit me there with his fists in the stomach and once with the wood on the head. Then threw me out of the house. They demanded a rifle. I said, ‘There isn’t one, I really don’t have one.’ And they said, ‘We’re coming back to you in five hours for the weapon.’ So I sat at home. They arrived: ‘Did you bring the rifle?’ I said, ‘I don’t have a rifle.’ They were there again… I don’t have a rifle. I don’t have a rifle. So they put handcuffs on me and took me into the forest. There they knocked me down. He cocked the pistol. He cut off a piece of hose about half an inch thick. He cocked the pistol again. They tied me to a beech tree. They beat me there. And put a rag in my mouth. Then they left. And came back again. They took the rag out. They took the handcuffs off. They put me in the jeep…”

Asked how many officers there were, he said three, and that one of them did the beating. He denied committing a war crime against Albanians during the war and said he was in Serbia at the time. According to his account, he was left on the road, walked home on foot, and then fell ill.

He also spoke about his family. His wife is Albanian, and he says police threatened to send her back to Albania, and that all of it happened in front of the children, who were crying.

“They’re threatening to come again. I have nowhere to go. I have a hundred sheep, two cows. I used to work at Trepca. I get minimum wage,” Raskovic said.

The Serb List, which was the first to bring the case to public attention, said he was also beaten with a garden hose, that he was left tied up, and that friends helped free him. According to the party, he was first taken to the health center in Zubin Potok, then to the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Who Is Investigating the Officers’ Conduct?

Veton Eljsani, deputy commander of the Kosovo Police for the northern region, said police have no information about a beating.

“We have no information that police beat anyone,” Eljsani said.

After footage of the injuries was published and the Serb List spoke out, the same official confirmed that the Kosovo Police Inspectorate, the body responsible for investigating criminal offenses committed by police officers, will handle the case. There is so far no independent confirmation of what happened between the moment officers entered the yard and the moment Raskovic arrived at the hospital.

Reactions From Belgrade

Petar Petkovic, director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, published photographs of the injuries and demanded an international response.

These are pictures of Kurti’s “democracy” and its treatment of Serbs: bruises, welts and the brutal abuse and beating of Nenad Raskovic from the village of Dren in Zubin Potok by the so called Kosovo police. I demand an urgent international response and an investigation into the brutal attack on Nenad, and the punishment of everyone responsible! For weeks, months and years we have been warning the entire international community about the abuse Kurti’s regime inflicts on Serbs, which is what has led to this. When there are no sanctions for those responsible and no adequate protection, these are the consequences. Nenad’s wounds must not go unpunished.

Petkovic posted the statement alongside the photographs of Raskovic’s injuries.

The Serb List demanded an urgent, independent and complete investigation to establish responsibility, and also called on the international security force KFOR and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, EULEX, to examine all the allegations.

A Week of Searches in Ibar Kolasin

The case in Dren happened in the middle of several days of police operations across the Zubin Potok municipality. Searches were carried out in previous days in Crepulja, Prevlak and Jabuka, and on Tuesday continued in Jabuka and Kaludra. Eljsani earlier described these operations as part of the effort to curb the possession of illegal weapons.

In the same period, investigations into war crimes and the search for missing persons are also under way in the Ibar Kolasin region:

• excavations began in Mala Kaludra in search of human remains
• at one location in Jabuka, remains suspected to belong to at least four people were found, with identification under way
• the Special Prosecution confirmed remains were also found at a third location, without disclosing publicly where it is

In previous days the area also saw arrests over suspected war crimes, along with detentions and questioning. The two processes are running in parallel and are easily conflated in public, even though they differ in nature and subject.

The answer to how a farmer from Dren ended up in intensive care is now a matter for the Kosovo Police Inspectorate. No one has yet set a deadline for that answer.