Unacceptable Conduct of the Intelligence Agency BIA towards Regional Reconciliation Activists

The RECOM Reconciliation Network calls on the Intelligence Agency (BIA) of the Republic of Serbia to refrain from all further situations and actions that threaten the freedom of political expression and freedom of movement and activism concerned with confronting  the past and reconciliation in the region.

For the past several years, on every occasion of his  arrival at the airport or other place of reception in Belgrade, BIA inspectors have interviewed journalist Adriatik Kelmendi, a public advocate of regional reconciliation and director of the Klan Kosova television station, based in Pristina, questioning him about the reasons for his trip and his political views. During his last visit, the BIA questioned him on his arrival at the Nikola Tesla Airport on 17 December 2021, and at his departure  on 19 December 2021, following his participation in the XIV Forum for Transitional Justice in post-Yugoslav Countries, which was held in Belgrade.

Through such actions the BIA is confirming that it is a completely perverted, semi-private institution that continues to treat citizens of Kosovo with suspicion and disregard for their basic human dignity, as was the case during the 1980s and 1990s.

With the aim of preventing further illegal action by the BIA, we will notify leaders of the Belgrade–Pristina dialogue, which is conducted under the auspices of the EU, the EP, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and the US State Department Special Envoy for the Serbia–Kosovo dialogue, of any further activities of such a nature.

For the RECOM Reconciliation Network

Nataša Kandić