Kurti says that stopping Kosovo citizens in Serbia is a gross violation of human rights

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Aljbin Kurti, stated that the detention of Kosovo citizens in Serbia is a "gross violation of human rights".

Serbian authorities stopped buses with Kosovo license plates on the border with Croatia and Hungary, "as a sign of retaliation" for the support of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for Kosovo's membership in this organization. This was announced by the authorities in Pristina, who called on the citizens of Kosovo to avoid passing through Serbia "at all costs".

"A day after the Parliamentary Assembly voted in favor of Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, Serbia is retaliating against Kosovo civilians. Since this morning, over 300 of our citizens - including children - have been detained at the border, without food and medicine," Kurti wrote on the X network. .

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) of Serbia announced that the allegations about the detention of the bus were "unfounded" and that the police "did not detain anyone or prevent the entry and passage of any citizen" from the territory of Kosovo.

"Increased control of all passengers at the border crossings is ongoing and security checks are being carried out, all with the aim of greater safety and security of citizens, which may cause a longer stay at the border crossing," stated the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia.

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo called on Kosovo citizens to avoid traveling through Serbia "at all costs", adding that discussions "about necessary actions" are underway and that citizens will be informed of new details.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it addressed the countries of the Quinte - USA, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany - as well as the institutions of the European Union and other international bodies on this issue. "We expect this situation to end quickly," it said.

Previously, the secretary of Pristina's Office for Liaison with Belgrade, Fatmir Hadžoli, announced that the Serbian authorities at the border with Croatia "blocked" at least four buses with Kosovo license plates and passengers from Kosovo since midnight.

According to his assessment, the blockade of buses at the Batrovci border crossing is a "sign of revenge and absurd nervousness" of official Belgrade due to the vote in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on support for Kosovo's membership in that organization.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo, Besnik Bisljimi, reacted with allegations that hundreds of Kosovo citizens, including women and children, were being held "as hostages by the Serbian side on the border with Croatia" for more than 13 hours.

"Our citizens are being interrogated, their personal documents were taken away and they were left without food and medicine," Bisljimi wrote on the social network X. He stated that he informed the special envoy for dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, Miroslav Lajčak, about this issue.

On April 16, the Parliamentary Assembly adopted a recommendation for the admission of Kosovo to the Council of Europe. The question will now be referred to the Committee of Ministers, which meets in May and has the final say when it comes to the admission of a country to the organization.

Serbia opposes Kosovo's membership in the Council of Europe, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, said after the vote that he would continue his fight "with all his might" so that the decision is not adopted at the Committee of Ministers on May 16.

Citizens of Kosovo passing through Serbia have been stopped before, and some of them have been arrested by the Serbian authorities on suspicion of having committed war crimes.