Eulex arrests four Serbs on war crimes charges, prompts protests

"EULEX police in cooperation with the Kosovo Police and KFOR have arrested four individuals of Serb ethnicity on suspicion of war crimes," said a EULEX spokeswoman, adding that the arrests had been made this morning near Gnjilane.

A fifth individual was detained for obstructing the police.

Serbs from Novo Brdo organized a half-hour demonstration to protest. Novo Brdo Municipal President Stojan Stanojevic said that the protest was to voice their opposition at the arrests.

Calling for calm and patience, he said that the suspects were innocent and that there had been no clashes or attacks on Albanians during the insurgency in 1999.

Kosovsko Pomoravski Governor Dragan Nikolic said earlier that five people had been arrested in Novo Brdo this morning: Svetlana Stojanovic from Bostana, and Dobrivoje Trajkovic, Slobodan and Srecko Martinović from Plavica and Srdjan Filic from Jasenovik near Novo Brdo.

EULEX conducted the arrest operation at 06:30 CET.

Vlada Martinovic, whose father and uncle, Slobodan and Srecko Martinović told Radio KIM that they had been arrested on charges of war crimes.

"During the arrest of my father and uncle, EULEX said that it was to do with war crimes," he said, adding that neither his father or uncle had ever left Kosovo and that the accusations were groundless.

"The accusations are way off the mark. These are people, country folk who don't work anywhere and have nothing to do with war or war crimes," Martinovic said. He said that police had confiscated mobile phones from the suspects' families during the arrest.

Belgrade officials and the Serbian opposition blasted the Eulex move.