Five Serbs from enclave under house arrest

Five Serbs from enclave under house arrest

ŠTRPCE -- Five Serbs from the enclave of Štrpce who were arrested on Tuesday have been placed under house arrest for up to 30 days.

Among the arrested Serbs, four are members of the Kosovo police.

Lawyer Miodrag Brkljač told Tanjug on Thursday that the members of the Kosovo police were released from custody and that they were put under a one-month house arrest on suspicion of betraying official secrets and abusing their official positions.

The penalty for criminal offenses facing the four Serbs defendants is up to 10 years in prison, said Brkljač, adding that the house arrest order can be appealed at the Appellate Court in Priština.

Two days ago in Štrpce, Kosovo police special units arrested policemen Dejan Stevanović, Radiša Jovanovic, Dragan Marković, and Dejan Jorgović.

Head of the provisional municipal authorities in Štrpce Ivan Redžić told Tanjug that a house arrest order has been issued for forestry worker Dragutin Ivanović who was also arrested on Tuesday, but his case is not connected to the case of the four police officers.

Redžić thanked the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo for providing legal aid.

He said he is confident that the case has been politically motivated and aimed at destabilizing the Serbian community in Štrpce, expressing the hope that this destabilization will not happen.

The arrest of the five Serbs from Štrpce sparked unrest in recent days with local residents gathering downtown on several occasions to express their disapproval of such police activities in the area.