Travel through Serbia continues to put Albanians at risk, with some remaining in Serbian prisons

Behar Preniqi has remained under arrest in Serbia since August 2025.

He was detained by Serbian authorities in Batrovci while crossing the border between Croatia and Serbia.

Preniqi is not the only Albanian behind bars in Serbia.

Osman Selmani was arrested in July 2026 at the Mitrovoda border crossing while returning from his birthplace. Meanwhile, on August 2 this year, Mentor Mustafa was also detained at the border between Serbia and Hungary.

According to Serbian authorities, all three are accused of alleged crimes against the civilian population during the war. Their families have denied the accusations.

The Organization of War Veterans of the KLA says Serbia’s arrests of Albanians have a specific objective.

“The idea is to tarnish our liberation war, to create a narrative portraying our just and liberation war as criminal. This is nothing new for us. We are used to this approach by Serbia. We must be careful not to travel through Serbia—the consequences can be so serious that no one may be able to come back, while the state is powerless when it comes to these events. The international community must exert pressure to prevent Serbia from doing such things,” said Gazmend Syla.

The Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms has also called on citizens to avoid traveling through Serbian territory, warning of the consequences of arrests.

“All these arrests, followed by all these releases, are costly both materially and politically, because when Serbia arrests Albanians from Kosovo, it demands certain concessions. It is a deal made behind the scenes that we do not see,” said Behgjet Shala.

The Humanitarian Law Center has also issued warnings urging caution.

“We are seeing that, from time to time, citizens of Kosovo are arrested while crossing the border through Serbia. They certainly need to be careful, especially those who were involved in the last war and were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, so that they can avoid these detentions. This is because recently we have seen that both in Serbia and in Kosovo, indictments in absentia have begun to be filed against members who took part in the war, whether against Serbian forces or against KLA soldiers,” said Amer Alija.

After nearly a month in pretrial detention, Dukagjin Maxhuni was released on Friday. He had been arrested on August 12 this year.

Earlier, Mithat Lozhani and Hazir Haziri had also been released from Serbian prisons.