Serbia releases Kosovo police officers, easing tensions

Belgrade, (Serbia): Serbia on Monday released three police officers from Kosovo who were detained near the disputed border between the Balkan foes earlier this month as tensions soared.

The release followed demands by the U.S. and European Union that they be set free. A court in the central Serbian town of Kraljevo said it was releasing the police officers, and they later returned to Kosovo.

The court said in a statement that the three were charged with illegal possession of weapons and explosive devices, and will be allowed to remain free pending potential further proceedings. The officers were detained in mid-June.

Serbia has said they had crossed into the country from Kosovo, while Kosovar authorities insisted they had been kidnapped inside Kosovo and transferred to a Serbian prison. Serbia’s chief negotiator with Kosovo, Petar Petkovic, said the proceedings against the policemen will continue.

He said their release from detention was a court decision “and not a political one.”

In Kosovo, officials demanded that Serbia be held responsible for allegedly violating Kosovo’s territory. President Vlosa Osmani thanked the United States for securing the policemen’s release “after the act of aggression that Serbia did in Kosovo.”

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti tweeted that “even though we are joyous that they get to return to their families, this abduction consists of a serious human rights violation & must be reprimanded. The Serbian aggression must be held accountable.”

The dispute had increased tensions between the two countries, which had flared into recent violent clashes in the Serb-majority north of Kosovo and stirred fears of a renewal of the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo that left more than 10,000 people dead, mostly Kosovar Albanians.

The EU last week summoned the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia to Brussels to urge them to defuse the situation, but the meeting produced no immediate breakthrough.

Serbia and its former province Kosovo have been at odds for decades, with Belgrade refusing to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence. (AP)