Donika Gervalla files criminal complaint against Snezhana Paunovic

Acting Justice Minister Donika Gervalla has filed a criminal complaint against Snezhana Paunovic, a minister in the Serbian government.

Through her official profile, Gervalla announced that she had asked the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor to carry out all investigative actions and proceed with an indictment, as well as seek a sentence from the competent court.

According to her, such statements are linked to the grave historical consequences left by the last war in Kosovo.

“Today I filed a criminal complaint against Snezhana Paunovic. The Republic of Kosovo does not remain silent and never bows to the language of hatred, calls for and incitement to division and intolerance. There is no room for the glorification of ethnic cleansing, the relativisation of genocide and monstrous Serbian crimes, or the spread of narratives aimed at undermining peace, security and interethnic coexistence. Public statements intended to justify ethnic cleansing and the expulsion of a people cannot be treated as ordinary political rhetoric. They carry grave historical, legal and human consequences. For this reason, in my capacity as Minister of Justice, I requested that the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor, within its legal powers, undertake all investigative actions and proceed further with an indictment and a request for the competent court to impose a sentence. Serbia has still not apologised for the crimes committed against our people during the war in Kosovo,” Gervalla wrote.

On July 12, 2026, in an interview with the Serbian media outlet “Kurir”, Paunovic, in her capacity as a minister in the Serbian government, stated: “If I were Slobodan Milosevic, I would have carried out the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo in 1998.”

Following the statement, Acting Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla declared Paunovic persona non grata, permanently banning her from entering or transiting through Kosovo.