Two policemen suspected of violence against Nenad Rashković return to duty — Srpska Lista demands full explanation

Two members of the Kosovo Police, suspended last month on suspicion of involvement in the case of Nenad Rashković from Dren in Zubin Potok, have returned to work in the North Mitrovica Regional Directorate. The suspension lasted about a month; the return was confirmed for KoSSev by Erduan Baliqi, head of the Operational Planning and Assessment Unit of this regional directorate. It is still unknown what the Kosovo Police Inspectorate’s investigation found in the case for which they were suspended, or whether the one-month suspension was also the final measure against them.

The case dates back to August 11, when Nenad Rashković from Dren, after a police operation, ended up for treatment in North Mitrovica with injuries to his head, back and chest. From his hospital bed he accused the police officers of having come several times to his house looking for weapons, of one policeman beating him at home and then taking him to the woods, where they handcuffed him, tied him to a beech tree and beat him again.

He said three policemen were present, but only one beat him; he also claimed that a policeman had fired his weapon, that during the violence they had stuffed a rag into his mouth and that they had demanded information about weapons and war crimes; they had threatened his wife, who is Albanian, that they would “send her back to Albania”.

That evening the Kosovo Police said it had no information that its members had beaten anyone, but after footage of Rashković’s injuries was published, it was confirmed that the Kosovo Police Inspectorate was taking the case. The next day, the IPK representative and members of the Kosovo Police visited Rashković in hospital and took his statement; on August 12 he was transferred to the Emergency Center of Serbia’s Clinical Center in Belgrade, where he was visited that same day by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who said the injuries were more severe than initially expected and that Rashković had two broken ribs.

On August 18, the IPK announced that, following investigative actions, it had recommended the suspension of the two policemen. Srpska Lista expressed surprise and demanded a full public explanation from the competent institutions about the reasons and legal basis for the decision: according to it, the fact that the public still does not know what the investigation found and at what stage the procedure is, creates the impression that serious allegations of police violence against Serbs are not receiving an adequate institutional response.

Srpska Lista also asked the Prosecution for an explanation of the measures taken against the suspects, including whether detention had been considered, and EULEX to publicly present the findings of its monitoring of this case.

Source: Danas (via KoSSev)