75-yr-old Serb woman punished for protecting her property

75-yr-old Serb woman punished for protecting her property

Her offense: driving cattle owned by an Albanian family off her land.

The TV Plus broadcaster from Silovo said the Ibishi family lived in the nearby village of Zegovacka Vrbica, and that Stojkovic "both received the ruling, and was beaten," and that the police "know everything about the attack on the old woman."

The Kosovo police director for the Gjilane region, Emina Mahmuti, said there were nine criminal complaints filed against the Ibishis, while Novo Brdo Mayor Svetislav Ivanovic noted that the family was "known to the local law and order organs."

Several complaints have been filed against them for violent behavior, "but that is not preventing them from attacking what belongs to others," be noted.

The elderly woman denies that she did anything wrong and says she will, "as a matter of principle" rather go to prison than pay the fine. Her sons support her in this decision, while next-door neighbor Blagica Trajkovic told reporters that "if Persa goes to prison, others want to go, too."

Both Albanians and Serbs live in Paralovo, in the village's 16 separate neighborhoods. About 150 Serbs remained still in the village after the war in Kosovo. "There are only three (Serb) homes surviving where Stojkovic's live and nobody is bothering them except the Ibishis," a TV Plus reporter said.

The Serbian Government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija late on Thursday reacted to the case to say it was "sad proof of a lack of a legal system in Kosovo."

The Office noted Persa Stojkovic was being punished for protecting her property, "although she has quite obviously been the victim of her Albanian neighbor's violence and arrogance."

The statement said that "the courageous elderly woman, thanks to the Kafkaesque court proceedings, has become a symbol of Serb resistance, defiance, and determination to persevere under existential conditions that cannot be found anywhere else in Europe."

The office also appealed on the judiciary in Kosovo and Metohija and on EULEX to find legal possibilities to annul or change this "senseless and obviously anti-legal ruling."

"We demand equality before the law for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, such as exists in all civilized societies," the statement said.