Court in Serbia Orders 30 Days of Detention for Osman Selmani

Osman Selmani, a citizen of Kosovo who was arrested by Serbian police on July 1 while returning to his hometown, has been ordered held in pre-trial detention for 30 days by the High Court in Serbia.

According to a statement from Serbia’s Ministry of the Interior, he was arrested at the Mutivodë border crossing, which connects Kosovo and Serbia, on suspicion of war crimes.

The Serbian Interior Ministry’s statement said: “There are grounded suspicions that on 14.06.1999, in Sofali, Prishtina, acting jointly with several members of the KLA, using cold weapons and firearms, in a cruel and treacherous manner, he took the lives of Serbian civilians, the married couple Vladimir and Persa Stanisavljeviq,”.

Serbian authorities also have not clarified conclusively whether the suspect was part of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

Osman Selmani’s family members have rejected the claims of Serbia’s prosecution, describing them as untrue and unfounded.

In their reaction, they said: “We believe in his innocence and will stand by him until the full truth is brought to light. We trust that justice will prevail and that the truth will come out. We sincerely thank you for every bit of support, every prayer, and every encouraging word in these difficult moments for our family,”.

In recent years, Serbia has continuously carried out arrests of Kosovo citizens, claiming their involvement in war crimes in Kosovo during 1998-99.