Lawyers detained in northern Kosovo released

Lawyers detained in northern Kosovo released

Gudeljevic said that the two lawyers were arrested on Tuesday for obstruction of evidence or official proceeding, adding that an international pre-trial judge of the Basic Court in Kosovska Mitrovica decided on Wednesday that they be released from police custody and ordered restrictive measures.

The court ordered a ban on contacting witnesses and other suspects in the case, seized their travel documents, and banned them from leaving their place of residence without the court's permission, Gudeljevic told Tanjug.

International Prosecutor at EULEX Kosovo Pascal Persons told Radio Kontakt plus earlier on Wednesday that the two lawyers were arrested on suspicion of influencing and even threatening witnesses in an ongoing case.

Lawyers Dejan Vasić and Faruk Korenica were arrested on Tuesday in an EULEX police operation. Serbs in northern Kosovo staged a protest on Tuesday against their arrest.

The same day, representatives of the local self-government in northern Kosovo demanded from EULEX to stop ignoring the institutions in the north, the Kosovo Police Regional Command in particular.

They demanded that the lawyers be released immediately and that all the arrested Serbs be granted pre-trial release.

Among others, Vasić are Korenica are defending the four Serbs who were arrested in the past few months in Kosovo-Metohija. One of the Serbs defended by Vasić is Žarko Veselinović, who has been charged with attempted murder of two members of Kosovo's ROSU special police units, and his trial is currently underway.

Aleksandar Vulin, Serbian minister without portfolio in charge of Kosovo and Metohija, said on Tuesday that the EULEX police violated the law during the arrests of two lawyers, and requested that they be urgently released pending trial.

Vulin said that the behavior of the EULEX police is incomprehensible and that the arrests of the lawyers are a continuation of the pressure on Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija.