Two officers suspected of violence against Nenad Rashković return to duty — Serb List 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 at the North Mitrovica Regional Directorate. The suspension lasted about a month; the return was confirmed for KoSSev by Erduan Baliqi, head of the directorate’s Operational Planning and Assessment Unit. 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 ended up receiving treatment in North Mitrovica with injuries to his head, back and chest after a police operation. From his hospital bed he accused the officers of having come to his house several times demanding weapons, said one officer had beaten him at home and that they had then taken him to the woods, where they handcuffed him, tied him to a beech tree and beat him again.

He said three officers were present but only one beat him; he also claimed that one officer had fired his weapon, that during the beating they had stuffed a rag into his mouth and demanded information about weapons and war crimes; his wife, who is Albanian, was allegedly threatened that she would be “sent back to Albania.”

That evening the Kosovo Police said it had no information that its members had beaten anyone, but after images of Rashković’s injuries were published, it was confirmed that the Kosovo Police Inspectorate was taking over the case. The next day, an IPK representative and Kosovo Police members visited Rashković in hospital and took his statement; on August 12 he was transferred to the Emergency Center of the Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade, where he was visited the same day by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who said the injuries were more serious 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 officers. The Serb List expressed surprise and demanded a full and public explanation from the competent institutions on 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 what stage the procedure is at creates the impression that grave allegations of police violence against Serbs are not receiving an adequate institutional response.

The Serb List also asked the Prosecution for an explanation of the measures taken against the suspects, including whether detention had been considered, and called on EULEX to publicly present the findings of its monitoring of the case.

Source: Danas (via KoSSev)