Police Officers Who Resigned Have No Right to Return and No Vacancies Are Available

The number of Kosovo Police officers from the Serb community has now been filled, while only the position of Serbian director remains vacant in the North Mitrovica region.

The General Police Directorate confirmed this to KP when asked whether it had received any official requests from Serbian police officers who left their posts in 2022 and now wish to return.

According to the response, following the resignations in 2022, the Kosovo Police organized five (5) recruitment competitions for police officers. Three (3) of them were open exclusively to members of minority communities, with positions in the North Mitrovica Regional Directorate.

The General Directorate said that the Kosovo Police has sufficient personnel to fulfill its legal obligations throughout the country, including in the North Mitrovica Regional Directorate.

In addition to the fact that the positions have been filled, the return of individuals who may have regretted resigning is also barred by the principal document governing employment relationships within the Police.

The General Directorate of the Kosovo Police explained that, under the Administrative Instruction on employment relationships within the Police, an employee who leaves through voluntary resignation is not entitled to be readmitted to the institution. The same instruction also sets out employment procedures, requiring candidates to meet the basic criteria stipulated in it.

In 2022, police officers, prosecutors and judges from the Serb community in the north of the country resigned as part of a political mobilization organized by the Serbian List.

Four years later, prosecutors who had regretted resigning requested permission to return, but their requests were rejected by the Prosecutorial Council and Kosovo’s acting President, Albulena Haxhiu.