From the Rashkoviq case to the mass graves, analysts: Serbia is trying to divert attention from crimes in Kosovo

Acting Minister of Internal Affairs Xhelal Sveçla responded on Thursday in Mitrovica to statements by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić regarding the case of Nenad Rashkoviq.

Sveçla said that the claims concerning Rashkoviq were being used to diminish the Serbian state’s responsibility for actions carried out during the last war in Kosovo. According to him, at a time when three mass graves, 71 long guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and other Serbian military equipment had been discovered, Vučić was trying to shift the debate to another case.

The acting minister said that Kosovo’s institutions would investigate all matters, including the allegations of mistreatment, in accordance with the relevant legal procedures. He stressed that institutional work would continue both on the cases mentioned earlier and on the investigation into the allegation connected to Rashkoviq.

Sveçla called on the Serbian president to contribute to clarifying the fate of people forcibly disappeared during the war, so that their families could begin healing the wounds inflicted over the years.

Analysts say that the issue of Nenad Rashkoviq should not overshadow the discovery of the mass graves and the crimes committed against Albanians during the war in Kosovo. They warn that the case could be exploited by Serbia for propaganda purposes, while calling on Kosovo’s institutions to exercise greater care and commitment in handling sensitive cases.

Gani Qarri: Rashkoviq was used for Belgrade’s propaganda

Analyst Gani Qarri, speaking to “Bota sot,” said that the case of Nenad Rashkoviq had served Serbia to divert international attention from the mass graves where Albanians killed during the war were found.

Qarri claimed that the developments surrounding Rashkoviq were part of a strategy by Belgrade to shift the focus away from the crimes and mass graves in Kalludër and the surrounding areas. According to him, the case was staged to diminish the significance of the discovery of the remains of Albanian intellectuals massacred in that area.

He criticized the investigators sent by Kosovo’s institutions to obtain information directly from Rashkoviq. Qarri said they did not interview him and returned without obtaining any authentic information, claiming that Zlatan Elek, whom he described as the head of the “Serb List” and director of the unlicensed Serbian hospital in Mitrovica, had prevented them from meeting him.

According to Qarri, such an action created room for speculation and gave Serbia an opportunity to use the case on the international stage. He argued that the investigators’ failure to obtain testimony from Rashkoviq himself left the way open for the narratives of Belgrade and Aleksandar Vučić.

Qarri said that through this case, Serbia shifted attention away from the mass graves near Zubin Potok, where 23 massacred Albanian intellectuals had been buried. He also linked the development to the moment when Kosovo was exhuming the victims, while KFOR and the EU had announced the opening of the Main Bridge over the Ibër River, which connects the two parts of Mitrovica.

The analyst questioned whether Kosovo’s institutions would be able to carry out a similar mission if the closure of the unlicensed Serbian hospital were decided, given, in his view, the reaction of officials following Zlatan Elek’s refusal.

He described the investigators as inept and suspicious, saying that their conduct had harmed Kosovo and created an opportunity for Serbia to spread hostile propaganda. Qarri called on the responsible institutions to urgently clarify this course of action, particularly during such a painful period for the victims’ families and for Albanians.

Qarri called on the director of the Police and the acting minister of Internal Affairs to provide official explanations as to how a case linked to Rashkoviq managed to overshadow the discovery of the mass graves where the remains of 23 murdered Albanians were found.

According to him, in this way Serbia presented itself as the endangered party and tried to reinforce the claim that Serb minorities in Kosovo were under threat, precisely when the crimes committed against Albanians were coming to light.

The analyst claimed that Rashkoviq could be a suspect in the massacre in Kalludër, Zubin Potok, and might have information about other Serbs involved in the killings of Albanians. He said that the weapons found near the house and the site of the massacre had not been hidden, while the victims’ remains were discovered more than 27 years after the war.

Qarri also mentioned the assessment that Kosovo had ranked first in Europe and third in the world for order and law last year. According to him, the Kosovo Police enjoys the highest level of public trust and has mechanisms to oversee the actions of its members, from ordinary officers to the highest levels of the state.

Despite this, he expressed the belief that the Rashkoviq case may have been orchestrated by specialized structures of Serbia’s BIA intelligence agency. According to Qarri, he was selected precisely on the days when the remains of Albanians were being discovered, with the aim of diverting domestic and international attention from the mass grave containing 23 Albanian intellectuals massacred by Serbia.

Qarri said that an individual or group linked to the security system may have created this opportunity for Serbia. He argued that the case contributed to obscuring the crimes and genocide committed against Kosovo’s Albanians, whose bodies continue to be discovered in mass graves more than 27 years after the end of the war.

He also criticized the initial suspension of the two police officers named by the Kosovo Police Inspectorate, saying that the officials who failed to question Rashkoviq should have been investigated instead.

Qarri said he did not want to believe that a Kosovo police officer would have caused bruising to a Serb minority member, knowing the impact such an action would have had during the days when Albanian graves were being discovered. He called for a detailed investigation by international experts to determine who caused the bruises shown in the Serbian media.

The analyst also questioned the published footage, emphasizing that Rashkoviq appeared to be moving freely and using a wheelchair, without signs of a condition as serious as that described in reports by Serbian propaganda media and television stations. He raised the possibility that some of the footage had been exaggerated or even created using artificial intelligence.

Qarri said that Xhelal Sveçla was right when he said that Aleksandar Vučić was trying to divert attention from the three mass graves discovered in Kosovo. He added that the bodies of 23 Albanian intellectuals had been found in Kalludër and the surrounding area of Zubin Potok, along with 71 long guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition and other Serbian military equipment.

However, he criticized the acting minister of Internal Affairs, saying that he should explain to the public how the failures of officials under his ministry’s authority had given Serbia and Vučić this propaganda space.

In conclusion, Qarri raised suspicions about the involvement of people linked to Serbia in the police, security structures, investigative bodies, prosecution and judiciary. He called on the state to identify and remove these individuals so that Kosovo can move toward European integration, Euro-Atlantic membership and its eventual acceptance as a fully independent state with full rights at the UN.

Leon Duhanaj: Serbia’s approach toward Kosovo remains unchanged

Analyst Leon Duhanaj told “Bota sot” that Serbia had not changed its policy toward Kosovo since the time of Slobodan Milošević.

According to Duhanaj, all Serbian governments since the war, regardless of their names and statements made before the international community, have followed the same line toward Kosovo. He assessed that with the arrival of Aleksandar Vučić, this policy may have become even more aggressive, while the strategic goal has remained the reversal of Kosovo’s statehood.

Duhanaj said that this approach was now well known both in Kosovo and among the international community. According to him, if Serbia had taken responsibility for the war crimes, it would have opened its archives long ago and provided information about mass graves and the locations of victims, both in Kosovo and on the territory of Serbia.

He assessed that a considerable part of Serbian society still had not broken away from nationalism toward Kosovo. Duhanaj said this was also evident during the student protests in Serbia, where, alongside domestic demands, there was no deep reflection on the crimes of the past and the Serbian state’s responsibility toward Kosovo.

According to him, the situation is particularly concerning because the discovery of mass graves containing murdered Albanians risks no longer receiving significant international attention. He stressed that while the leaders of the KLA are on trial in The Hague, graves containing Albanian victims continue to be discovered in Kosovo, and many perpetrators of the crimes have still not faced justice.

Duhanaj described this as a grave moral and political contrast. According to him, international justice cannot apply one standard to the KLA and another to the Serbian state structures that committed crimes, massacres and expulsions and later concealed the bodies in mass graves.

He stressed that every mass grave discovered constitutes a new indictment of the policy of Serbia at that time and that Kosovo must not remain silent.

Finally, Duhanaj called on Kosovo’s government and diplomacy to take every such case to Brussels, Washington, Berlin, Paris, London, the UN and every other international institution where the voices of the victims can be heard.

He said that behind every opened grave stands a murdered person, a family that has waited for decades and a crime demanding that its perpetrator be identified. According to Duhanaj, this issue should also affect the conscience of the international community.