Kosovo PM demands Serbia to hand over indicted gunmen

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti demands Serbia to hand over the 45 indicted Serbian gunmen who were allegedly involved in the attack that killed a Kosovar Albanian police officer, Afrim Bunjaku, last year.

“Bullies who want war in Kosovo, in the Balkans, will have no place in Kosovo. I don’t know about Serbia, but they will not walk freely in Kosovo,” he said as he visited the village of Banjska in honour of Bunjaku.

A group of Serb gunmen opened fire near the village in the north of Kosovo in September last year, killing Bunjaku and injuring another. The group then fled to a nearby Serbian Orthodox monastery, where they had a 12-hour standoff with local police.

Kosovo prosecutors pressed charges of violation of the constitutional and legal order, terror activities, funding terrorism and money laundering against 45 people. The charges carry a maximim sentence of life in prison.

So far, only three people have been arrested while others are at large.

Kurti said Serbia is responsible and must be held accountable, and claims the aim of the attack was to annex a part of Kosovo.

”One year has passed since the heroic fall of the Kosovo police officer Afrim Bunjaku, who together with his colleagues, arrived at a place where an ambush was prepared against our police officers from paramilitaries and terrorists who were orchestrated, directed and financed by Serbia,” the Prime Minister said.

Kurti adds that the group had attempted to bring a large quantity of weaponry to Kosovo, with the purpose of instigating ‘a wider and longer conflict.’

Serbia denies the accusations and says the gunmen acted on their own.

The European Union and the United States condemned the attack and have called on Serbia to hand over the gunmen.

EU spokesman Peters Stano stressed for the importance of the prosecution of those responsible, and says it is a reminder of the need to advance normalization of Kosovo and Serbia’s relations.

During his visit to Banjska, Kurti unveiled the street sign of a road leading to the village which has been named after the police officer.