Dačić lauds MUP efficiency, comments on Preševo

Serbia's police and Interior Ministry, MUP, will preserve public order and peace, fight organized crime and create conditions for visa liberalization. This is according to Ivica Dacic, interior minister and first deputy PM, who called a news conference in Belgrade on Monday to, flanked by his closest associates, present MUP's achievements this year and plans for 2009. Dacic lauds MUP efficiency, comments on Presevo Dacic commended police efficiency and said that the numbers of the most serious criminal offenses have gone down in 2008, while police managed to solve more crimes than the year before. The minister specified that 95,359 criminal acts were committed in the territory of Serbia from January to November 2008, and that 52,387 criminal charges were filed. 46,400 criminal complaints were filed in connection to suspected criminal acts pertaining to general crime, the minister revealed. The number of solved criminal acts committed by unidentified perpetrators increased from 56 percent, in the period from January to November 2007, to 57.9 percent in the corresponding period of 2008, he said. Next year, Dacic continued, will see MUP's wide efforts to fight organized crime, and announced that he expects a law on confiscation of illegally gained property to come into effect. He also addressed the issue of Serbia's south and its security by saying that the region is stable and that the security forces will maintain peace and order there. Dacic's comments came only days after a series of raids in the south that resulted in the arrests of ten former KLA members accused of war crimes committed against Serb civilians in Kosovo in 1999. The minister underscored that there is firm evidence, along with witness testimonies, that indicate that the Gnjilane Group members are war criminals. Dacic said that the group committed crimes against at least 51 persons, and there is suspicion that three of them who remain at large took part in anti-Serb violence in Kosovo in March 2004. He also said that belonging to an ethnic minority does not release anyone of their responsibility for war crimes, and once again stressed that Friday's War Crimes Prosecution and MUP operation was aimed at the war crimes suspects, and not at the Albanian residents of Serbia's southern areas. “I assure Albanians in Presevo and Bujanovac that the operation was not aimed against them because they are equal citizens of this country,” underscored Dacic. Ivica Dacic, right, is seen during today's news conference (Beta)

Dačić lauds MUP efficiency, comments on Preševo

Dačić commended police efficiency and said that the numbers of the most serious criminal offenses have gone down in 2008, while police managed to solve more crimes than the year before.

The minister specified that 95,359 criminal acts were committed in the territory of Serbia from January to November 2008, and that 52,387 criminal charges were filed.

46,400 criminal complaints were filed in connection to suspected criminal acts pertaining to general crime, the minister revealed.

The number of solved criminal acts committed by unidentified perpetrators increased from 56 percent, in the period from January to November 2007, to 57.9 percent in the corresponding period of 2008, he said.

Next year, Dačić continued, will see MUP's wide efforts to fight organized crime, and announced that he expects a law on confiscation of illegally gained property to come into effect.

He also addressed the issue of Serbia's south and its security by saying that the region is stable and that the security forces will maintain peace and order there.

Dačić's comments came only days after a series of raids in the south that resulted in the arrests of ten former KLA members accused of war crimes committed against Serb civilians in Kosovo in 1999.

The minister underscored that there is firm evidence, along with witness testimonies, that indicate that the Gnjilane Group members are war criminals.

Dačić said that the group committed crimes against at least 51 persons, and there is suspicion that three of them who remain at large took part in anti-Serb violence in Kosovo in March 2004.

He also said that belonging to an ethnic minority does not release anyone of their responsibility for war crimes, and once again stressed that Friday's War Crimes Prosecution and MUP operation was aimed at the war crimes suspects, and not at the Albanian residents of Serbia's southern areas.

“I assure Albanians in Preševo and Bujanovac that the operation was not aimed against them because they are equal citizens of this country,” underscored Dačić.